fill 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 

SAN  FRANCISCO 
COUNTY  MEDICAL  SOCIETY 


due  on  last  date  given  below, 
.arged  for  each  day  the  book  is  kept  overtime. 

Date  ^ne 


(< 


IBIBWmWHWlilWWTIWmtflllllllllllllll  ■■IIIWBII— MIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIII  I  III  III  III    II  i  llh-^»'  T'f-  i 


George  Miller  Sternberg 


A     BIOGRAPHY 


BY     HIS     WIFE 

Martha    L.    Sternberg 


CHICAGO 

American  Medical  Association 

Five   Hundred  and   Thirty-Five    North    Dearborn    Street 

1920 


Copyright,    1920 

BY     THE 

American    Medical   Association 


Biomedical 

viz 

100 


PREFACE 


The  following  pages  have  been  written  in  the  sincere  hope 
that  the  life  and  work  of  General  Sternberg  may  serve  as  an 
inspiration  to  the  present  and  future  generations  of  American 
physicians  to  achieve  renown  in  the  science  of  preventive 
medicine. 

To  my  near  friends  who  have  known  of  my  efforts  and 
have  given  me  encouragement  and  sympathy,  I  desire  to 
express  my  thanks.  I  am  especially  indebted  to  Dr.  George 
M.  Kober  and  Mr.  Emile  Berliner  for  aid  and  encouragement 
in  my  work,  and  to  Drs.  Fielding  H.  Garrison  and  Frank  J. 
Stockman,  both  of  the  Surgeon-General's  Library,  for  the 
revision  of  the  manuscript  for  the  press.  Last  but  not  least 
I  desire  to  express  my  heartfelt  thanks  to  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  the  American  Medical  Association  for  undertaking  the 
publication  of  this  volume,  and  also  to  Dr.  George  H.  Simmons, 
the  distinguished  editor  of  its  Journal,  for  valuable  suggestions 
in  the  preparation  of  the  manuscript. 

MARTHA     L.     STERNBERG. 

Washington,  D.  C. 
May  20,  1920 


FOREWORD 


This  biography  of  General  Sternberg  is  a  historical  record  of 
especial  interest  to  the  medical  profession  and  to  the  medical 
officers  of  the  United  States  Army.  Written  by  his  widow, 
the  companion  and  co-worker  of  his  active  life,  it  is  authorita- 
tive. Of  unusual  charm  are  the  chapters  dealing  with  army 
life  in  the  old  days  at  the  Southern  and  Western  posts,  a  theme 
which  has  been  usually  dealt  with  only  by  our  novelists.  The 
record  of  the  military  and  scientific  career  of  the  man  himself 
is  of  permanent  value. 

The  story  of  General  Sternberg's  life  is  one  of  arduous 
devotion  to  duty,  of  unflagging  industry  and  of  unexcelled 
patriotism.  Entering  the  Army  in  1861,  at  the  age  of  23,  he 
served  through  the  Civil  War  with  courage  and  ability.  It  is 
said  that  he  saw  more  active  service  on  the  battle  field  and  in 
Indian  campaigns  than  any  other  medical  officer  of  his  time. 
After  the  Civil  War,  he  acquired  an  unusual  experience  in 
dealing  with  epidemics  of  cholera  and  yellow  fever,  and  was 
himself  a  temporary  victim  of  the  latter  disease.  His  interest 
in  these  infections  led  him  to  take  up  the  study  of  bacteriology, 
in  which  he  was  originally  self-taught.  He  was  the  pioneer 
bacteriologist  of  this  country. 

Through  his  books  on  the  value  of  commercial  disinfectants, 
en  bacteriology,  malarial  fever,  immunity  and  serum  therapy, 
he  was  the  earliest  to  teach  American  physicians  the  funda- 
mental principles  and  technic  of  bacteriology,  including  the 
culture  methods  and  photomicrography.  In  1880,  he  discovered 
the  micro-organism  of  pneumonia,  before  Pasteur  announced 
his  findings.  He  was  the  first  in  this  country  to  show  the 
organisms  of  malarial  fever,  cholera  and  tuberculosis.  His 
researches  on  malarial  fever  and  yellow  fever  made  it  clear 
that  neither  of  these  diseases  could  be  caused  by  a  bacterial 
organism.  These  negative  findings  were  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance in  establishing  the  true  causal  relations  in  these  infec- 
tions.    We  can  only  appreciate  the  worth  of  such  researches 


vi  FOREWORD 

in  the  light  of  Bacon's  axiom:  "It  is  easier  to  evolve  the  truth 
from  error  than  from  confusion."  Before  their  publication, 
confusion  reigned. 

\-  Surgeon-General  of  the  Army  (1893-1902),  Sternberg 
created  the  Army  Medical  School,  organized  the  Army  Nurse 
Corps  and  the  Dental  Corps,  established  the  Tuberculosis  Hos- 
pital at  Fort  Bayard,  and  many  general  hospitals  during  the 
Spanish- American  War.  His  own  early  difficulties  in  acquir- 
ing the  knowledge  for  which  he  thirsted  led  him  to  the  liberal- 
minded  policy  of  encouraging  medical  officers  to  engage  in 
scientific  research  in  laboratories  established  by  him  in  the 
larger  post  hospitals.  Similar  aims  resulted  in  the  establish- 
ment by  him  of  the  Typhoid  Fever  Board  (Majors  Reed, 
Vaughan  and  Shakespeare),  which  gave  us  a  new  point  of 
view  for  the  prevention  of  this  disease;  and  of  the  Yellow 
Fever  Commission,  headed  by  Major  Walter  Reed,  who,  with 
his  associates,  discovered  that  yellow  fever  is  transmitted  by  a 
particular  mosquito.  The  enormous  gain  to  medicine  and 
public  hygiene  through  these  discoveries  is  well  known. 

Finally,  after  his  retirement  from  active  duty  in  the  Army, 
General  Sternberg  devoted  the  evening  of  his  life  to  social 
welfare  activities  in  Washington,  of  which  his  work  on  sanitary 
improvement  of  habitations  and  the  care  of  the  tuberculous 
was  perhaps  the  most  important.  He  was  highly  honored  in 
his  lifetime,  a  president  of  the  American  Medical  Association 
and  of  many  other  important  scientific  societies. 

The  present  volume  has  been  revised  for  the  press  by  Lieut. - 
Col.  F.  II.  Garrison  and  Dr.  Frank  J.  Stockman,  both  of  the 
Surgeon-General's  Library.  Written  as  it  is  by  a  lady  of  the 
Army,  about  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  our  Medical  Corps,  I 
cordially  commend  the  book  to  the  medical  profession. 

M.    W.    IRELAND, 
Surgeon-General,  U.  S.  Army. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Early  Life  1 

II.    Civil  War  Record 4 

III.  After  the  Civil  War 11 

IV.  Fort  Barrancas  28 

V.     In  Europe   42 

VI.    In  the  Department  of  Columbia 46 

VII.    The  Nez  Perces  Campaign 53 

VIII.    Scientific  Research   69 

IX.    Yellow  Fever  Investigations 94 

X.    Medical  Purveyor  at  San  Francisco 125 

XL    Appointment    as    Surgeon-General 131 

XII.     International  Medical  Congress  at  Moscow 145 

XIII.  President  of  the  American  Medical  Association 149 

XIV.  Spanish-American  War   158 

XV.  Scientific  Achievements  During  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can War   209 

XVI.    Inspection  Tour  in  the  Philippine  Islands 228 

XVII.    Retirement  from  the  Army 237 

XVIII.    Humanitarian   Interests    251 

XIX.    Last  Contributions  to  Preventive  Medicine 266 

XX.     General  Sternberg's  Death 280 

XXI.     Congressional  Recognition  298 

XXII.    Dedication  of  General  Sternberg's  Monument 305 

Bibliography  of  George  M.  Sternberg 319 

Index    327 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

George     Miller     Sternberg Frontispiece 

George    Miller    Sternberg 2 

United    States    General    Hospital,    Cleveland,    Ohio 10 

Honorary  Presidents  and   Secretaries,   Section  on  Military  Med- 
icine, Twelfth  International  Congress  of  Medicine 148 

United  States  General  Hospital,  Fort  Myer,  Va 172 

Medals  Awarded  to  George  Miller  Sternberg 254 

George  Miller  Sternberg,  1912 264 

Havana  Yellow  Fever  Commission   274 

Photomicrographs  of  Yellow  Fever  Blood 275 

Monument   to   George   Miller    Sternberg 306 


CHAPTER   ONE 

EARLY    LIFE 

George  Miller  Sternberg  was  born  at  Hartwick  Seminary, 
Otsego  County,  New  York,  June  8,  1838.  He  was  the  eldest 
son  of  the  Rev.  Levi  Sternberg,  A.M.,  D.D.,  and  Margaret 
Levering  [Miller]  Sternberg.  His  surroundings  in  early  child- 
hood made  a  lasting  impression  on  him,  and  through  life  he 
cherished  a  fond  memory  of  the  beautiful  quiet  valley  and  of 
the  hills  over  which  he  had  roamed,  made  famous  by  the  writ- 
ings of  Fenimore  Cooper. 

His  father,  born  in  Schoharie  County,  New  York,  in  1814, 
was  the  youngest  son  of  John  and  Anna  Sternberg,  and  was 
descended  from  one  of  the  oldest  Lutheran  families  of  the  Pala- 
tinate who  settled  in  Schoharie  and  the  Mohawk  valleys  at  an 
early  date.1  Imbued  with  the  desire  for  a  liberal  education,  in 
1828  he  entered  Hartwick  Seminary,  where  he  spent  five  years 
preparing  to  enter  Union  College.  He  possessed  a  remarkably 
active  mind,  was  an  original  thinker,  positive  in  his  convictions 
and  ready  to  pass  intelligent  judgment  on  a  variety  of  subjects. 
He  graduated  from  Union  College  with  honor  and  from  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  Hartwick,  and  received  the  degree  of 
D.D.  from  Union  College.  Later  he  was  chosen  principal  of 
Hartwick  Theological  Seminary,  and  for  thirteen  years  he 
imparted  a  new  impetus  to  the  institution  and  added  largely 
to  the  number  of  students. 

Margaret  Levering  Miller  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  George  B.  Miller,  D.D.,  especially  learned  in  ancient  and 
modern  languages  and  in  theology,  and  for  many  years  profes- 
sor of  theology  at  Hartwick  Seminary.  Like  her  father,  she 
was  possessed  of  an  unusual  faculty  in  acquiring  languages.  At 
the  age  of  19,  when  she  was  married,  she  had  a  good  knowl- 
edge of  Latin,  read  German,  Spanish  and  French  with  facility, 


1.  The  first  wheat  was  sown  in  Schoharie  County  in  the  fall  of  1713 
and  was  sown  by  Lambert  Sternberg,  in  Gerlachsdorf.  .  .  .  The 
first  bench  of  Common  Plea  Judges  in  Schoharie  County  consisted  of 
William  Beckman,  Adam  P.  Vrooman,  John  M.  Brown,  David  Stern- 
berg and  Jonathan  Danforth. — History  of  Schoharie  County,  p.  5,  606. 


2  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

and  spoke  French  and  German  quite  fluently.  She  was  also  an 
accomplished  musician  and  played  well  on  the  church  organ 
when  she  was  a  grandmother. 

From  his  mother  General  Sternberg  inherited  a  quiet,  unself- 
ish, affectionate  disposition  which  characterized  him  through- 
out his  life.  Certain  of  her  physical  features  were  also  his — the 
dark  hair,  the  shape  of  the  brow,  and  the  benevolent  brown  eyes. 
In  physique  and  certain  facial  features  he  resembled  his  father. 
It  has  been  asserted  that  "if  you  would  give  a  boy  a  good  edu- 
cation, you  must  begin  with  his  grandfather."  If  this  be  true, 
General  Sternberg  received  peculiar  advantages  in  this  respect. 
On  his  father's  side  he  was  descended  from  an  enterprising, 
sturdy  race,  while  on  the  distaff  side,  his  grandfather  and  his 
great-grandfather  were  scholars  of  Moravian  descent.  His 
great-grandfather  was  a  learned  and  devoted  minister  and 
teacher. 

As  a  boy  of  10  years,  George  Miller  Sternberg  was  taken  by 
his  grandmother  from  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  where  his  father  was  in 
charge  of  a  Lutheran  Church,  to  Hartwick  Seminary.  The 
climate  had  been  too  severe  for  the  boy,  and  his  grandmother 
wished  to  look  carefully  after  his  health.  He  remained  for 
some  years  at  Hartwick  Seminary  and  became  greatly  attached 
to  the  family  of  his  grandfather.  When  he  was  12  years  of  age 
his  father  was  called  to  be  principal  of  the  institution  at  Hart- 
wick, and  there  the  boy  continued  to  pursue  his  studies.  At 
13  years  he  became  restless  and  at  his  father's  solicitation 
obtained  a  situation  in  the  book  store  of  Mr.  Elihu  Phinney  at 
Cooperstown,  N.  Y.,  where  he  remained  for  about  a  year. 
According  to  his  recollection,  he  devoted  every  leisure  moment 
to  reading  fiction,  books  of  exciting  character  giving  him  the 
greater  pleasure.  When  he  was  approaching  his  fourteenth  year 
he  returned  home  at  the  request  of  his  mother  to  resume  his 
studies  at  the  seminary.  In  the  course  of  his  education  he  was 
always  fond  of  mathematics,  chemistry  and  the  natural  sciences. 
When  first  he  went  to  Hartwick  he  began  the  study  of  Latin 
and  German,  but  he  did  not  at  that  age  develop  the  fondness 
for  acquiring  languages  which  in  past  generations  had  been  the 
pride  of  the  family. 

A  large  and  increasing  family  and  the  small  income  which  is 
the  clergyman's  portion  caused  his  father  to  think  seriously  at 


1855 


1859 


1869 


1876 


1880 


1904 


George    Miller    Sternberg 


EARLY    LIFE  3 

times  of  the  financial  situation.  To  George,  the  eldest  son,  the 
father  had  sometimes  confided  some  embarrassing  tribulations, 
and  he  began  to  feel  the  necessity  of  doing  something  toward 
relieving  the  situation.  Accordingly,  at  16  years  of  age,  he  took 
off  his  "round  about  coat,"  put  on  a  frock  coat  and  sought  a 
school  where  he  could  teach  during  the  winter  months.  He  was 
fortunate  enough  to  secure  an  engagement  at  $10  a  month  and 
"board,"  in  a  small  and  uncomfortable  schoolhouse  in  the  hills 
12  miles  away.  He  returned  home  every  Saturday,  but  separa- 
tion from  his  mother  for  protracted  periods  was  a  great  trial 
and  he  determined  to  do  better  the  following  winter.  Through 
the  influence  of  friends  in  New  Jersey,  he  secured  a  school  at 
a  salary  of  $20  a  month,  remaining  for  about  two  years,  his 
salary  being  gradually  increased  until  it  amounted  to  $100  a 
quarter.  Having  saved  his  money,  he  returned  to  Hartwick  to 
continue  his  studies,  and  to  teach  in  the  seminary  the  branches 
of  his  preference,  namely,  mathematics,  chemistry,  and  natural 
philosophy.  About  this  time,  he  decided  to  enter  medicine  and 
began  the  study  of  anatomy  and  physiology  under  the  direction 
of  an  excellent  preceptor,  Dr.  Horace  Lathrop,  A.  M.,  M.D., 
Cooperstown,  N.  Y.  Through  the  kind  assistance  of  Mr.  Gran- 
din  Bray,  a  generous  uncle  resident  in  California,  he  was  able 
to  attend  his  first  course  of  lectures  during  the  winter  of  1859- 
1860  at  Buffalo.  Later  he  went  to  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  in  New  York  City,  where  his  expenses  were  again 
met  by  his  uncle.  Although  this  money  was  not  sent  as  a  loan, 
it  was  later  returned  by  Dr.  Sternberg  to  show  his  appreciation 
and  with  the  hope  that  it  would  be  again  used  to  assist  some 
other  ambitious  youth.  He  received  his  M.D.  degree  from  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  the  spring  of  1860,  and 
located  at  once  in  Elizabeth  City,  N.  J.,  where  he  practiced 
medicine  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War. 


CHAPTER  TWO 

CIVIL    WAR    RECORD 

At  the  call  of  his  country,  Dr.  Sternberg  appeared  before  an 
Army  Examining  Board  in  New  York  City  and  in  a  class  of 
twenty-one  he  passed  a  very  good  examination  and  received 
appointment  as  Assistant  Surgeon,  U.  S.  Army,  May  28,  1861. 
He  accepted  his  commission  May  31,  1861,  and  his  first  serv- 
ice was  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  with  the  command  of 
Gen.  George  Sykes,  from  whom  he  received  official  commenda- 
tion for  courageous  services  during  the  battles  of  Gaines'  Mill, 
Turkey  Bridge,  and  Malvern  Hill.  At  the  Battle  of  Bull  Run 
he  was  made  a  prisoner  of  war,  as  recounted  in  these  extracts 
from  his  letters. 

BATTLE     OF     BULL     RUN 

At  half  past  two  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning,  July  21,  our 
division  was  aroused  by  the  drum  beating  the  call  to  "pre- 
pare to  march."  Soldiers  and  officers  were  soon  moving 
about  and  breakfast  was  hurriedly  eaten.  Two  days'  rations 
were  given  to  be  carried  in  the  haversacks.  It  was  about 
daybreak  when  we  got  under  way.  After  marching  some  dis- 
tance beyond  Centerville,  our  division  under  Colonel  Hunter, 
which  was  in  the  rear,  was  marched  in  advance  of  the  divis- 
ion which  had  previously  been  in  advance  of  us.  We  then 
marched  through  the  fields  for  some  distance  and  afterward 
followed  a  road  through  the  woods.  When  we  came  again 
into  an  open  field,  marching  a  short  distance  brought  us  to 
Bull  Run  above  the  place  where  the  enemy  had  chosen  their 
position.  We  heard  the  report  of  the  cannon  nearby,  show- 
ing us  that  our  troops  in  front  were  already  fighting.  We 
soon  learned  we  were  to  be  on  the  enemy's  left  flank.  The 
men  all  took  off  their  blankets  at  this  place  and  left  them  in 
charge  of  the  band  and  a  small  guard  of  men.  We  then 
forded  the  run  and  went  at  double  quick  time  toward  the  field 
of  action. 

As  we  approached,  we  heard  continuous  volleys  of  mus- 
ketry, showing  that  the  engagement  had  become  general.  Our 
battalion  of  Regulars  was  in  the  rear  of  the  column.  Just  as 
they  were  coming  on  the  field  Dr.  Keeny  rode  up  to  me  and 
said  that  Colonel  Hunter  was  wounded  and  directed  me,  my 
assistant  hospital  steward,  attendants  and  ambulance  to  fol- 
low him  to  attend  to  Colonel  Hunter.     We   found  Colonel 


CIVIL    WAR    RECORD  5 

Hunter  leaning  against  a  tree  with  a  wound  in  his  neck 
which  proved  to  be  not  serious.  I  saw  that  I  could  be  of  no 
use  to  him  as  there  were  plenty  of  surgeons  around  him.  I 
therefore  hastened  with  my  attendants  to  find  our  regulars. 
We  found  the  men  just  entering  into  action  and  some  dis- 
tance in  advance  of  all  others  in  our  division.  The  enemy 
was  driven  before  us  for  some  distance  and  the  number  of 
their  dead  and  wounded  that  we  passed  showed  us  that  they 
had  fought  desperately.  I  kept  as  near  our  regiment  as  pos- 
sible, picking  up  the  wounded  and  putting  on  simple  dress- 
ings and  sending  them  in  an  ambulance  to  the  surgeons  in 
the  rear.  I  attended  to  very  many  of  the  volunteers  who 
were  wounded,  as  well  as  to  our  own  men,  and  as  fast  as 
possible  sent  them  off  the  field  in  ambulances  to  a  place  in  the 
woods  where  a  number  of  senior  surgeons  had  made  their 
headquarters.  Among  others,  I  sent  Lieutenant-Colonel  Jones 
of  an  Alabama  regiment,  who  was  severely  wounded  in  the 
thigh.  At  one  time  I  got  into  the  range  of  a  battery  and  of 
musketry.  The  balls  whisked  about  me  in  every  direction. 
Thinking  it  useless  to  remain  in  such  a  dangerous  position,  I 
called  my  steward  and  attendants  and  we  moved  out  of  range 
of  this  battery. 

The  fight  continued  until  3  or  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
when  our  troops  began  to  give  way  and  soon  were  in  full 
retreat ;  in  fact  they  became  panic  stricken.  The  retreat  was 
a  complete  rout.  The  men  would  make  no  attempt  to  rally 
and  many  of  them  threw  away  their  muskets  and  cartridge 
boxes,  everything  in  fact,  each  one  seeming  to  think  of  noth- 
ing but  personal  safety.  Our  battalion  covered  the  retreat 
on  the  right  in  good  order.  In  the  beginning  of  the  fight,  I 
had  tied  my  horse  near  a  farm  house  that  we  were  using  as  a 
hospital,  and  when  I  found  that  the  battle  was  evidently  lost 
and  the  retreat  general,  I  went  for  my  horse — but  he  was 
gone.  I  followed  the  retreating  army  to  a  church,  where  I 
found  280  of  our  wounded  without  any  attention.  I  at  once 
resolved  to  remain  with  them  and  do  what  I  could  to  relieve 
their  sufferings.  Some  six  or  seven  surgeons  of  volunteer 
regiments  also  remained.  We  put  out  a  white  flag  at  once 
and  commenced  doing  all  we  could  under  the  circumstances 
for  the  poor  wounded.  I  performed  several  amputations, 
hoping  to  save  life. 

CAPTURE     BY     THE     ENEMY 

About  three  quarters  of  an  hour  after  the  last  of  our  men 
had  passed,  a  company  of  the  enemy's  cavalry  arrived  at  the 
church.  The  captain  asked  us  for  our  parole  not  to  attempt 
to  escape  from  the  church,  which  we  gave.  It  began  raining 
in  the  morning  and  as  there  was  not  room  for  all  of  the 
wounded  in  the  church,  a  great  many  were  obliged  to  be  out 


6  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

in  the  rain.  The  captain  who  first  captured  us  had  bivou- 
acked near  the  church.  I  obtained  a  detail  from  him  in  the 
morning  and  started  them  to  work  to  make  a  shelter.  I  had 
small  trees  cut  down  and  a  frame  erected  which  was  about 
30  feet  long  and  20  feet  wide.  I  covered  this  with  blankets, 
and  placed  as  many  of  the  wounded  as  possible  under  it.  On 
Monday  evening,  the  captain  told  me  he  had  received  instruc- 
tions to  send  us  all  to  Manassas  in  charge  of  a  lieutenant. 
Some  of  the  surgeons  went  in  ambulances,  but  I  rode  a  horse 
that  the  captain  furnished  me.  It  was  still  raining  and  very 
cold.  We  had  not  had  anything  to  eat  since  Sunday  morn- 
ing, except  a  cup  of  corn  meal  gruel  which  one  of  the  men 
had  made  at  the  church.  I  was  so  chilled  and  exhausted 
when  I  reached  Manassas  that  I  could  scarcely  sit  on  my 
horse.  After  our  arrival  we  were  kept  waiting  in  the  rain 
for  about  two  hours  before  it  was  decided  what  disposition 
to  make  of  us.     .     .     . 

We  were  eventually  taken  to  the  guard-house  where  a 
number  of  other  prisoners  were  confined.  Luckily  some  of 
our  men  had  brought  blankets  with  them.  I  had  none  but 
one  gentleman  had  three  and  he  kindly  loaned  me  one.  We 
wrapped  ourselves  up  in  our  blankets  and  lay  down  in  a  loft 
of  the  barn  which  was  used  as  a  guard-house.  Nothwith- 
standing  our  clothes  were  wet  through,  we  were  all  sound 
asleep  in  a  very  few  minutes.  In  the  morning,  a  piece  of  salt 
bacon  was  sent  to  us  on  a  piece  of  board.  Shortly  after  par- 
taking of  this  breakfast,  a  colonel  came  to  us  with  a  written 
parole  in  his  hand  which  he  said  we  might  sign,  and  in  case  we 
did  so  we  would  be  at  liberty  to  go  when  and  where  we 
pleased.  The  parole  was  an  agreement  not  to  aid  or  abet  the 
enemies  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America  in  any  way 
whatever.  Four  or  five  of  the  surgeons  took  the  parole  but 
four  of  us  refused  to  do  so.  Those  who  took  it  were  at 
once  sent  back  to  the  church  to  attend  to  the  wounded  we  had 
been  obliged  to  leave.  Those  of  us  who  remained,  earnestly 
requested  that  we  might  be  allowed  to  attend  to  our  wounded. 
A  parole  was  therefore  offered  us  which  we  gladly  signed, 
not  to  attempt  to  escape  or  give  any  information  for  five 
days.  Immediately  after  taking  this  we  were  allowed  to  go 
about  the  place  at  liberty. 

We  found  a  great  many  of  our  wounded  lying  in  a  shed 
near  the  railroad.  Some  of  them  had  only  just  been  brought 
in  from  the  field,  having  lain  all  Sunday  night,  all  day  Mon- 
day through  the  rain,  and  Monday  night.  The  poor  fellows 
were  in  a  most  pitiable  condition,  many  of  their  wounds  were 
alive  with  infection  of  the  worst  type  (maggots)  and  it 
seemed  almost  impossible  to  get  the  wounds  clean.  When 
we  thought  the  infection  was  entirely  removed  we  found  on 


CIVIL    WAR    RECORD  7 

the  next  change  of  dressing  the  wound  was  badly  infected 
again.  A  train  of  cars  stood  waiting  and  our  instructions 
were  to  dress  the  wounds  as  well  as  possible  and  put  the  men 
on  the  cars  which  would  take  them  to  hospitals  at  Charlotte 
and  Culpeper.  We  had  the  train  loaded  by  night  and  were 
told  it  would  leave  in  a  short  time.  We  therefore  went  back 
to  the  loft  in  the  guard-house  to  sleep,  as  no  other  place  had 
been  provided.  In  the  morning,  to  our  regret  and  surprise 
we  found  the  cars  were  not  yet  gone,  and  the  poor  fellows 
had  been  lying  in  them  all  night  without  any  attention.  For 
some  reason  the  cars  were  delayed  all  of  Wednesday  and 
did  not  get  off  until  Wednesday  night.     .     .     . 

On  Thursday  we  continued  to  give  our  attention  to  the 
wounded  at  Manassas  until  evening,  when  a  Dr.  Taylor  and 
myself  were  sent  to  Center ville  to  attend  to  some  wounded 
who  had  been  left  there.  .  .  .  Dr.  Taylor  and  myself 
had  frequently  talked  over  the  chances  of  escape.  We  found 
an  old  atlas  in  a  Dr.  Alexander's  house  from  which  I  tore  a 
small  map  of  Virginia.  From  this  I  ascertained  that  Wash- 
ington was  about  east  of  Centerville.  I  told  the  doctor  that 
the  best  plan  was  to  go  north  for  about  15  miles  and  then  east 
until  we  struck  the  Potomac.  By  doing  so  I  thought  we 
should  evade  pursuit,  and  leave  the  secession  troops  all  to 
the  south  of  us.  My  parole  was  up  on  Sunday  at  noon.  On 
Sunday  morning  Dr.  Taylor  was  taken  back  to  Manassas.  I 
think  the  intention  must  have  been  to  take  me  to  Manassas 
as  my  parole  had  expired  and  Dr.  Taylor's  parole  would  not 
expire  for  two  days  to  come. 

ESCAPE 

I  took  dinner  at  one  o'clock  at  Dr.  Alexander's  and  went  to 
the  hospital  and  saw  that  all  the  wounded  were  comfortable, 
slipped  half  a  dozen  crackers  into  my  pocket,  lighted  a  cigar 
and  was  all  ready  for  my  start.  Thinking  that  the  sentinels 
at  the  hospital  might  suspect  my  intentions  when  they  saw  me 
going  towards  the  woods,  I  asked  them  if  they  knew  where 
any  real  red  oak  grew,  Dr.  Alexander  having  recommended 
a  decoction  of  the  bark  as  an  application  for  some  of  the 
wounds.  The  sentry  said  there  was  plenty  of  it  in  the  woods 
about  half  a  mile  north  of  town.  I  then  started  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  woods,  and  as  soon  as  I  had  reached  it,  I  gave  up 
that  leisurely  pace  which  I  had  taken  so  far  for  a  more  rapid 
gait.  I  came  to  a  stream  after  walking  about  two  miles, 
which  I  thought  to  be  Bull  Run.  I  took  off  my  shoes  and 
stockings  and  forded  it ;  then  continued  according  to  my 
plans  to  walk  in  a  northerly  direction  until  nearly  sundown. 
Then  the  sun  which  had  been  my  guide  became  suddenly 
hidden  by  clouds  and  soon  it  began  to  rain.    I  was  in  a  thick 


8  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

wood  of  second  growth  pine  trees  which  grew  so  close 
together  that  I  could  scarcely  make  my  way  between  them. 
I  kept  traveling  for  about  an  hour  in  what  I  thought  to  be  a 
northerly  direction  when  I  came  to  a  small  clearing  in  which 
stood  an  old  house  and  a  log  cattle  stable.  I  went  into  the 
stable  until  it  ceased  to  rain.  It  cleared  up  just  as  the  sun 
was  going  down  behind  the  hills  and  I  found  when  I  caught 
a  glimpse  of  the  sun  that  I  had  gotten  completely  turned 
around  while  it  was  hidden  by  the  clouds.  I  had  been  travel- 
ing on  the  back  track.  I  therefore  determined  not  to  travel 
any  more  unless  I  should  see  the  sun,  moon  or  north  star. 
After  the  rain,  I  skirted  around  the  edge  of  the  clearing  to 
find  whether  the  house  was  inhabited.  Having  become  satis- 
fied that  it  was  not  I  went  up  to  it  and  entered.  There  was 
nothing  in  it  but  a  barrel  and  a  door.  I  placed  the  door  so 
that  I  might  lie  upon  it,  ate  one  of  my  crackers,  smoked  my 
last  cigar,  and  threw  myself  down  upon  the  door  which  I 
had  placed  upon  an  incline  and  I  went  quickly  to  sleep. 

It  seemed  as  if  I  had  been  asleep  but  a  few  moments  when 
I  heard  my  name  called.  I  jumped  suddenly  up  and  said, 
"Well."  There  was  of  course  no  answer.  I  had  been  dream- 
ing. On  looking  out  of  the  window  I  found  it  was  clear,  and 
the  moon  had  just  risen.  Accordingly  I  again  took  my  line 
of  march  going  as  nearly  in  the  right  direction  as  I  could.  I 
found  it  extremely  difficult  at  times  to  make  my  way  through 
the  thick  underbrush  by  the  dim  light  of  the  moon.  I  must 
have  traveled  until  about  2  o'clock  when  it  again  became 
cloudy  and  I  threw  myself  down  upon  the  ground  and  fell 
asleep.  When  I  woke  up,  the  reddish  tinge  of  the  clouds  in 
the  east  showed  me  that  the  day  was  breaking;  I  again  trav- 
eled on  east,  eating  blackberries  with  my  crackers,  as  I  went 
along,  for  my  breakfast.  I  had  avoided  the  open  fields  and 
houses  all  along  but  about  noon  seeing  a  man  working  alone 
in  a  field  I  went  up  to  him  to  ascertain  my  whereabouts.  He 
told  me  that  by  continuing  about  a  mile  and  a  half  further 
east  I  would  strike  the  Potomac  River;  that  it  was  12  miles 
to  Washington  by  the  road,  and  that  there  were  a  good  many 
South  Carolina  troops  along  the  road.  I  was  very  cautious 
in  crossing  the  road  and  fortunately  got  to  the  woods  on  the 
other  side  without  being  seen. 

When  I  reached  the  river,  I  took  off  my  clothes  and  rolled 
them  up  into  a  bundle  intending  to  swim  across  with  the 
bundle  in  one  hand,  as  I  had  often  crossed  the  Susquehanna 
in  my  fishing  trips  at  home.  But  my  clothes  being  wet,  were 
so  heavy  that  I  did  not  dare  to  venture,  and  I  put  them  on 
and  proceeded  down  the  river,  intending  to  construct  a  raft 
on  which  to  cross.  I  had  collected  several  pieces  of  timber 
and  was  looking  for  more  when  I  discovered  an  old  boat.     I 


CIVIL    WAR    RECORD  9 

unfastened  it  and  getting  into  it  let  it  float  down  with  the 
current.  This  mode  of  traveling  was  so  much  pleasanter  than 
walking  through  the  woods,  that  I  determined  to  continue  it 
as  far  as  possible.  .  .  .  My  boat  ride  was  stopped  about 
five  miles  from  Washington  by  a  dam  extending  across  the 
river  which  I  could  not  get  over.  I  accordingly  landed  on 
the  Maryland  side  and  proceeded  on  foot.  The  first  house  I 
came  to  belonged  to  a  kind-hearted  Irishman  who  gave  me 
two  large  bowls  of  milk  and  a  supply  of  good  bread  and  but- 
ter, the  best  I  think  I  ever  ate.  I  learned  from  him  that  I 
was  five  miles  from  the  city.  Passing  along  a  little  farther 
I  fell  in  with  some  soldiers  of  the  6th  Maine  Regiment.  I 
inquired  of  them  where  I  could  hire  a  horse  to  take  me  to  the 
city.  After  hearing  my  story  they  said  if  I  would  go  with 
them  to  their  camp,  which  was  nearby,  their  colonel  would 
send  me  in.     .     .     . 

When  I  arrived  in  camp  I  was  aware  that  my  appearance 
was  anything  but  prepossessing.  My  clothing  was  torn  and 
wet,  and  I  was  worn  and  weary.  I  was  presented  to  the 
colonel.  He  promised  to  send  me  to  the  city  in  a  short  time. 
While  I  was  talking  with  him,  a  soldier  came  into  the  tent 
and  asked  me  if  I  was  not  the  man  he  had  in  the  guard-house 
the  night  before.  I  told  him  I  was  not,  but  he  was  very  sure 
I  was  and  called  four  men  to  prove  it.  They  all  declared  that 
I  was  the  very  man — and  I  almost  began  to  believe  it  myself. 
But  one  of  the  men  happened  to  see  me  standing  and  con- 
cluded that  I  was  at  least  a  head  shorter  than  my  facsimile. 
The  colonel  seemed  to  forget  his  promise  to  send  me  to  the 
city  and  after  waiting  for  two  hours  it  began  to  rain  and  I 
had  to  give  up  going  until  morning.  One  of  the  captains 
kindly  offered  me  a  bed  in  his  tent  and  I  remained  with  him 
over  night.  At  five  o'clock  in  the  following  morning  I  arose 
and  walked  to  Washington.  I  had  left  my  trunk  before 
starting  for  the  campaign  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Boyle. 

When  I  arrived  there  I  hastened  to  refresh  myself  with  a 
bath  and  some  dry  clothing.  All  my  friends  seemed  rejoiced 
to  see  me.  They  had  heard  that  while  leaning  over  a 
wounded  man  on  the  field  I  had  been  struck  by  a  cannon  ball 
and  killed.  After  a  short  delay  I  went  at  once  to  the  house 
of  General  Scott  to  report.  I  was  most  kindly  received  by 
him  and  had  a  long  conversation  with  him  giving  all  the 
information  on  the  situation  that  I  could.  I  next  reported 
to  the  Surgeon-General,  after  which  I  proceeded  to  join  my 
regiment  on  Arlington  Heights,  where  the  regiment  was  in 
camp.  I  was  most  cordially  received  by  all  and  you  can  well 
imagine  my  pleasure  to  be  again  with  my  fellow  officers.  In 
the  afternoon,  I  reported  to  General  McDowell  with  whom 


10  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

I  had  a  long  interview.  The  following  morning,  our  battal- 
ion was  ordered  to  Washington  to  act  as  a  police  force  for 
the  city  until  the  opening  of  the  campaign  in  1862. 

The  official  records  show  that  Dr.  Sternberg  was  under 
heavy  fire  while  caring  for  the  wounded  in  the  battle  of 
Gaines'  Mill  and  Malvern  Hill.  Brig.-Gen.  George  Sykes 
in  his  reports  of  these  battles,  and  the  engagement  at  Turkey 
Bridge  *  says : 

Dr.  Sternberg  added  largely  to  the  reputation  already 
acquired  on  the  disastrous  field  of  Bull  Run.  He  received 
the  brevet-commission  of  Captain  and  Major  for  faithful 
and  meritorious  services  during  the  war. 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  with  General  Sykes'  command  in  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  until  August  29,  1862.  He  was  taken 
sick  with  typhoid  fever  at  Harrison's  Landing  and  was  sent 
north  on  a  Government  transport.  Recovering,  he  was 
assigned  as  executive  officer  of  the  U.  S.  General  Hospital 
at  Portsmouth  Grove,  R.  I.,  a  hospital  containing  2,200  beds. 
In  November  1862,  he  was  ordered  to  accompany  General 
Banks'  expedition,  then  organizing  in  New  York  City,  to 
New  Orleans,  where  he  served  as  assistant  to  the  medical 
director  of  the  Department  of  the  Gulf  and  with  the  board 
of  health  until  January,  1864. 

In  1864,  he  served  as  Assistant  Medical  Director  at 
Columbus,  Ohio,  and  was  later  placed  in  charge  of  a  large 
and  complete  general  hospital  at  Cleveland,  Ohio.  He  was 
relieved  from  this  post  July  5,  1865  and  the  next  tour  of 
duty  was  with  the  Thirteenth  Infantry  at  Jefferson  Barracks, 
Mo'. 


1.  War  of  the  Rebellion  Records  11:   part  2,  352. 


o 


p 


CHAPTER   THREE 


AFTER    THE    CIVIL    WAR 


Oct.  19,  1865,  Dr.  Sternberg  was  married  to  Miss 
Louisa  Russell,  daughter  of  Robert  Russell,  of  Coopers- 
town,  N.  Y.  They  went  to  Jefferson  Barracks,  where  they 
remained  until  April,  1866,  when  he  was  ordered  as  post  sur- 
geon to  Fort  Harker,  Kan.  Mrs.  Sternberg's  health  was 
frail  and  when  the  order  came  to  go  to  a  frontier  post,  Dr. 
Sternberg  thought  it  best  for  his  wife  to  return  to  her  father 
and  mother  in  the  East  until  their  future  quarters  were  made 
in  readiness.  This  she  did  and  joined  her  husband  in  the 
Far  West  in  the  spring  of  1867.  June  28,  cholera  appeared 
at  Fort  Harker,  the  first  cases  occurring  among  members  of 
a  colored  regiment  temporarily  at  the  post  en  route  from 
Jefferson  Barracks  to  New  Mexico.  There  were,  from  June 
28  to  August  1,  forty-seven  cases  with  thirty-two  deaths 
among  the  troops,  besides  a  number  of  cases  among  civilian 
employees.  Among  the  first  cases  in  the  civil  population  of 
the  post  was  Dr.  Sternberg's  wife,  who  died  July  15,  after 
a  few  hours  of  illness. 

In  Dr.  Sternberg's  account  of  this  epidemic  x  he  says : 

Many  cases,  that  I  am  now  satisfied  were  mild  cases  of 
cholera,  were  diagnosed  at  the  time  as  choleraic  diarrhea  and 
do  not  appear  in  the  above  report,  which  only  contains  the 
clear  and  unmistakable  cases. 

Fort  Harker  is  located  on  high  ground  about  a  mile  east 
of  the  Smoky  Hill  River,  at  the  junction  of  the  Smoky  Hill 
road  to  Denver  City  and  the  road  to  Santa  Fe  via  Fort  Zarah 
and  the  Arkansas  River  Route.  It  is  85  miles  west  of  Fort 
Riley  and  since  July  10  has  been  in  railroad  communication 
with  the  East  by  the  completion  thus  far  of  the  Union  Pacific 
R.  R.,  Eastern  Division. 

The  elevation  above  the  bed  of  the  river  is  from  60  to  70 
feet.  The  surface  descends  to  the  east,  south  and  west, 
affording  excellent  drainage.  The  soil  is  but  6  to  8  inches 
thick  and  below  is  a  bed  of  fine  gravel,  about  30  feet  thick, 
composed  mostly  of  quartz  and  flint;  below  this  is  a  bed  of 

1.  Surgeon-General's  Office,  Circular  No.  1,  pp.  29  and  30.  Report  on 
epidemic  cholera  and  yellow  fever  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States 
during  the  year  1867. 


12  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

clay.  The  bluffs  north  and  east  of  the  fort  are  composed  of 
a  recent  red  sandstone,  which  contains  impressions  of  the 
leaves  of  trees  of  existing  species  (oak,  ash,  willow,  etc.). 
The  water  used  at  the  post  is  obtained  from  a  spring  in  the 
bank  of  a  creek  one-quarter  of  a  mile  west  from  the  post. 
The  spring  issues  from  the  bank  about  15  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  creek,  over  the  stratum  of  clay,  above  which  is  the 
gravel.  An  examination  of  the  water  from  the  spring  in 
July,  1867,  showed  but  a  small  trace  of  organic  matter. 

During  the  past  year,  diarrhea  has  been  of  rare  occurrence 
among  those  who  have  been  at  the  post  for  any  length  of 
time.  During  the  month  of  June,  1867,  but  twelve  cases  of 
diarrhea  are  reported. 

The  garrison  of  the  post  where  cholera  first  made  its 
appearance,  consisted  of  Company  E,  37th  Infantry  (white) 
and  Companies  H,  B,  K,  38th  Infantry  (colored).  The  com- 
panies of  the  38th  Infantry  had  been  recently  organized  at 
Jefferson  Barracks  and  came  from  there  here.  ...  In 
addition  to  these  troops  Company  H,  38th  Infantry,  and 
Company  F,  10th  Cavalry  (colored)  were  temporarily  in 
camp  at  a  distance  of  from  one-eighth  to  one-half  mile  from 
the  post  on  high  ground.  Four  companies  of  Kansas  militia 
were  mustered  into  the  United  States  service  and  remained 
at  the  post  about  two  weeks  in  July  during  the  worst  of  the 
epidemic.  There  were  also  encamped  at  and  around  the  post 
from  500  to  800  quartermaster's  employees  (masons,  car- 
penters, laborers  and  teamsters).  The  number  of  these  was 
constantly  varying,  many  leaving  in  consequence  of  the 
epidemic,  and  others  coming  from  the  east. 

The  police  of  the  camps  was  not  good  when  cholera  first 
made  its  appearance.  Some  of  the  companies'  sinks  were  in 
a  wretched  condition,  and  there  were  several  offensive  holes 
about  the  post  where  slops  and  garbage  from  the  kitchen  had 
been  thrown.  Measures  were  at  once  taken  to  remedy  these 
evils ;  a  strict  system  of  policing  was  inaugurated ;  the  camps 
were  all  moved  to  new  grounds  and  disinfectants  were  pro- 
cured and   freely  used.     .     .     . 

The  hospital  patients  were  all  treated  in  hospital  tents, 
which  were  pitched  about  50  yards  in  rear  of  the  post  hospi- 
tal. Convalescents  and  uncertain  cases  were  kept  in  sep- 
arate tents  from  the  cholera  patients.  The  discharges  from 
the  patients  were  all  disinfected  as  soon  as  passed. 

The  history  of  this  epidemic  shows  that  cholera  was  evi- 
dently introduced  by  colored  troops  who  arrived  at  Fort 
Harker  from  Jefferson  Barracks,  where  the  disease  prevailed 
to  the  extent  of  256  cases  with  134  deaths.  In  view  of  the 
fact  that  it  is  now  believed  that  cholera,  like  other  intestinal 


AFTER    THE    CIVIL    WAR  13 

infections,  may  be  transmitted  through  the  agency  of  flies, 
the  following  observation  of  Dr.  Sternberg  is  of  special  inter- 
est. "There  have  been  an  unusual  number  of  flies  and  mos- 
quitos.  Houses  have  been  infested  with  a  large  fly  which 
differs  from  the  common  house-fly." 

INDIAN     CAMPAIGNS 

The  epidemic  being  over  Dr.  Sternberg  asked  to  be  relieved 
from  duty  at  Fort  Harker  and  returned  east  on  leave  of 
absence  in  August,  1867.  At  the  expiration  of  his  leave  in 
December,  1867,  he  was  ordered  to  Fort  Riley  where  he  was 
post  surgeon  and  on  courtmartial  duty. 

March  23,  1868,  he  was  directed  to  report  to  the  command- 
ing officer,  Tenth  Cavalry,  for  duty  with  that  regiment  on  a 
march  from  Fort  Riley  to  Fort  Hays,  Kan.  These  troops, 
under  command  of  Major  M.  H.  Kidd,  did  more  or  less 
Indian  campaign  duty.  Sept.  25,  1868,  he  was  assigned  as 
chief  medical  officer  to  Col.  A.  Sulley's  expedition  in  the 
field.  This  expedition  was  operating  against  hostile  Indians 
south  of  the  Arkansas  and  the  district  of  upper  Arkansas, 
with  bases  near  Fort  Dodge,  Fort  Hays,  Kan.,  and  Camp 
Supply,  I.  T. 

Nov.  7,  1868,  Dr.  Sternberg  pointed  out  that  no  medical 
officers  were  available  to  accompany  trains  between  Fort 
Dodge  and  Fort  Hayes  or  the  new  base  of  operations.  He 
requested  two  additional  officers,  because  "the  trains  will  be 
liable  to  attack  by  Indians  and  accidents  will  occur  to  the 
drivers  and  the  escorts  while  on  the  road.  In  one  of  the 
trains  coming  from  Fort  Hayes  a  few  days  ago,  one  man  was 
killed  and  another  severely  wounded  by  a  stampede  among 
the  mules.  I  happened  to  be  on  the  spot  and  rendered  the 
necessary  assistance.  I  also  found  several  men  in  the  train 
disabled  by  kicks  from  mules.  There  is  at  present  but  one 
medical  officer  on  duty  with  the  Infantry  Battalion,  and  two 
with  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  so  that  when  companies  are 
detached  to  escort  trains,  they  have  to  go  without  medical 
assistance." 

He  was  relieved  from  duty  as  chief  medical  officer  of  the 
troops  serving  in  the  field  south  of  the  Arkansas,  Dec.  7, 
1868,  and  assigned  to  duty  with  Maj.-Gen.  Sheridan's  com- 
mand in  the  field  depot  and  headquarters  on  the  North  Can- 


14  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

adian  River,  at  the  junction  of  Beaver  Creek,  I.  T.  This 
expedition,  like  the  others,  was  for  the  purpose  of  subduing 
the  Cheyennes  and  other  hostile  Indians  in  and  around  the 
Indian  Territory.  There  were  naturally  many  alarms  and 
exciting  pursuits  of  the  Indians,  and  on  the  whole  Dr.  Stern- 
berg spent  a  trying  winter  in  this  almost  unexplored  country. 
During  the  marches  that  he  made  with  the  command,  he 
became  interested  in  the  geological  conformation  of  the  coun- 
try, made  close  observations  and  copious  notes,  and  collected 
much  material.  His  interest  in  gathering  undescribed  fos- 
sils and  other  animal  remains  resulted  in  frequent  chidings  by 
other  officers  lest  he  should  be  picked  off  by  the  Indians  while 
securing  these  specimens.  Some  of  his  specimens  were  for- 
warded to  Prof.  Joseph  Leidy,  of  Philadelphia,  who 
described  them  in  his  report  on  "The  Vertebrates  of  the 
West."  The  Indian  crania,  skulls  of  animals  and  birds,  and 
fossil  shells  were  sent  to  the  Army  Medical  Museum  and 
were  acknowledged  "to  have  been  received  in  good  order, 
being  very  carefully  packed." 

FORT     RILEY 

March  2,  1869,  Dr.  Sternberg  was  relieved  from  General 
Sheridan's  command  and  ordered  to  proceed  to  Fort  Hays, 
Kan.,  and  on  his  arrival  to  report  by  letter  to  the  Medical 
Director,  Department  of  the  Missouri,  for  assignment  to 
duty.  In  the  summer  of  1869,  he  was  again  ordered  to  Fort 
Riley  as  the  Attending  Surgeon.  This  gave  him  a  good 
garrison  post,  as  it  was  then  the  school  of  light  artillery.  He 
had  a  fine  hospital  and  a  good  working  force ;  and  there  was 
a  thriving  town  at  Junction  City,  just  two  miles  distant, 
where  he  could  secure  materials  for  making  photographs  and 
for  other  experimental  work  in  which  he  was  engaged  at  the 
time.  It  was  my  good  fortune  to  begin  my  own  army  life 
at  this  delightful  military  post  in  the  autumn  of   1869. 

I  was  married  to  Dr.  George  M.  Sternberg  Sept.  1,  1869, 
in  Indianapolis,  Ind.  I  am  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Thurston 
Nelson  Pattison,  a  prominent  citizen  and  pioneer  in  Indiana, 
descended  from  a  Scotch-Irish  ancestor,  who  settled  at  an 
early  date  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland.  My  mother, 
Elizabeth  Grant  [Mauzy]  Pattison,  was  descended  from  a 
French  Huguenot  who  settled  in  Virginia.     My  grandparents 


AFTER    THE    CIVIL     WAR  15 

were  early  settlers  in  Kentucky.  Both  of  my  immediate 
grandfathers  were  ministers  of  the  Gospel  and  left  Ken- 
tucky because  of  religious  convictions ;  they  did  not  wish  to 
rear  their  children  in  a  state  where  slavery  existed.  There- 
fore, they  returned  the  slaves  given  them  by  their  parents 
when  they  were  married  and  removed  with  their  young 
families  to  the  free  state  of  Indiana. 

After  my  marriage  to  Dr.  Sternberg,  we  made  a  brief 
wedding  trip  and  soon  returned  to  Indianapolis  in  order  that 
I  might  say  good-bye  to  my  parents  and  the  friends  of  my 
youth.  The  happy  moments  spent  with  dear  ones  flew 
quickly  and  we  started  for  Fort  Riley,  Kan.,  which  was  to  be 
our  new  home.  Even  at  that  date  the  railroad  accommoda- 
tions in  the  Middle  West  were  good,  and  we  traveled  through 
active  and  progressive  states,  namely,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Mis- 
souri and  Kansas.  As  a  young  lady,  I  knew  all  this  section 
of  my  country  very  well,  had  visited  relatives  in  Cincinnati, 
St.  Louis,  and  other  cities ;  I  loved  these  neighboring  states 
as  well  as  my  own,  and  felt  sad  at  leaving  for  other  fields. 
Our  entrance  into  Kansas  served  to  awaken  a  new  instinct 
in  me,  and  I  studied  constantly  and  carefully  from  the  car 
the  landscape  which  I  knew  would  be  different  from  that 
which  we  had  just  passed.  Acres  and  acres  of  rich  prairie 
land  extended  at  times  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see  without  the 
least  obstruction  of  hill  or  dale.  Some  fields  were  under 
cultivation,  others  untouched  awaiting  the  farmer  who  was 
yet  to  come.  We  passed  some  small  towns  and  I  was  glad 
when  I  heard  that  our  next  stop  would  be  Lawrence,  the 
place  where  John  Brown  gathered  his  followers  and  made 
trouble.  But  there  was  no  trace  of  this  past  event ;  it  was 
just  a  quiet  little  town.  Topeka,  the  capital  city,  was  the 
next  stop. 

After  Topeka  there  were  fewer  towns  and  the  eyes  every- 
where beheld  vast  prairies.  Soon  we  reached  the  railroad 
station  at  Fort  Riley,  at  that  date  a  modest  little  building  at 
the  base  of  the  bluff,  very  different  from  the  present  one. 
An  ambulance  drawn  by  four  spirited  mules  awaited  our 
coming  and  soon  carried  us  on  our  way  up  the  steep  incline. 
We  were  charmed  with  the  fine  substantial  stone  buildings 
and  the  general  appearance  of  stability  at  the  post.     The  site 


16  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

was  selected  and  the  post  built  under  the  management  of 
Major  Ogden  of  the  old  U.  S.  Army.  The  officers'  quarters, 
the  barracks,  the  hospital,  the  stables — in  fact,  all  the  build- 
ings at  the  post — were  constructed  of  a  cream-colored  stone 
quarried  close  by.  At  this  time  Fort  Riley  was  the  school 
for  the  light  batteries  of  the  Army.  All  the  drills,  and  the 
usual  military  routine,  were  vigorously  pursued,  for  there 
was  ample  space  for  drill  and  for  maneuvering  on  the  parade 
grounds  and  surrounding  reservation.  After  the  usual  duties 
of  a  post  surgeon  had  been  attended  to  each  day,  we  enjoyed 
our  second  breakfast,  and  then  took  up  some  study  or  recre- 
ation, most  frequently  of  outdoor  character.  We  rode  on 
horseback  over  the  picturesque  hills,  whence  could  be  enjoyed 
an  extensive  view  of  the  valley  of  the  Republican  River  with 
its  cultivated  fields  and  acre  on  acre  of  wild  flowers.  But 
the  outings  that  were  enjoyed  most  were  those  made  to  the 
prairies  where  we  gathered  quantities  of  wild  flowers  and 
grasses.  We  had  to  renew  our  study  of  botany  to  aid  us  in 
identifying  the  flora  of  our  new  surroundings.  Sometimes 
we  drove  in  our  light  phaeton  to  the  neighboring  village,  two 
and  a  half  miles  distant,  called  Junction  City  from  its  location 
at  the  junction  of  the  Smoky  Hill  and  Republican  rivers. 
The  town  had  railroad  communication  with  the  eastern  and 
western  portions  of  the  state  by  the  Kansas  Pacific  R.  R. 
and  with  the  southern  portion  by  the  M.,  K.  &  T.  R.  R.  It 
was  the  county  seat  of  Geary  County,  and  because  of  its 
banks  and  other  sources  of  interest,  constant  intercourse 
existed  between  it  and  the  garrison.  The  residents  of  Junc- 
tion City  were  educated,  ambitious  young  people,  who  were 
doing  well  their  part  in  developing  the  natural  resources  of 
a  rich  state.  The  liberal  professions  were  well  represented 
and,  on  the  whole,  it  was  at  that  time  an  interesting  and 
thriving  place  of  some  3,000  souls.  When  Dr.  Sternberg 
was  selecting  quarters,  expecting  me  to  join  him,  he  knew  his 
tour  of  duty  at  Fort  Riley  would  not  be  of  long  duration,  as 
he  had  served  in  that  department  since  April,  1866.  The 
demand  for  quarters  was  greater  than  the  supply,  conse- 
quently my  husband  gave  those  to  which  he  was  entitled  by 
rank  to  a  line  officer  who  was  not  in  robust  health  in  order 
that  his  friend  might  be  near  his  company  and  perform  his 


AFTER    THE    CIVIL    WAR  17 

duty  with  less  fatigue.  We  accordingly  occupied  quarters 
known  as  the  sutler's  house,  built  by  a  man  who  had  accum- 
ulated a  comfortable  fortune  from  his  post  trader's  store. 
The  house  was  situated  on  an  elevation  and  surrounded  by 
extensive  grounds ;  it  was  much  too  large,  but  it  had  its 
charms,  of  which  the  garden  and  the  extensive  view  were  not 
the  least. 

INVENTION     OF     ANEMOMETER 

The  many  rooms  gave  Dr.  Sternberg  facilities  for  planning 
and  developing  ideas  that  were  in  shape  for  adoption  and 
practical  application.  One  room  was  used  as  a  laboratory, 
another  as  a  work  room  in  other  fields.  Having  a  penchant 
for  invention,  Dr.  Sternberg  conceived  the  idea  of  improv- 
ing the  anemometer,  an  instrument  in  use  at  the  hospital  every 
day  to  register  and  record  the  direction  and  force  of  the 
wind.  At  that  time  the  medical  department  of  the  Army 
was  the  official  agency  in  this  country  for  recording  meteoro- 
logic  observations.  Having  perfected  his  anemometer,  when 
next  in  Washington  he  visited  the  Patent  Office  to  learn 
if  he  had  created  anything  new,  and  if  so  to  apply  for 
a  patent.  Much  to  his  surprise,  after  searching  some  time, 
it  was  found  that  a  German  had  worked  on  the  same  line  in 
Germany  long  before  this  time.  The  anemometer  was  per- 
fect, but  the  important  part  of  his  instrument  involved  the 
same  principle  as  did  the  one  made  in  Germany.  This  fact 
naturally  entailed  disappointment,  but  a  sunny  disposition 
precluded  permanent  regret. 

In  April,  1870,  Dr.  Sternberg  prepared  a  report  on  the  cli- 
mate of  Fort  Riley,  which  was  published  in  the  local  paper. 

INVENTION     OF     HEAT     REGULATOR 

While  at  Fort  Riley,  Dr.  Sternberg  was  also  occupied  with 
another  important  invention.  Impressed  with  the  desir- 
ability of  maintaining  an  even  temperature  in  hospital  wards, 
he  sought  an  automatic  device  to  control  the  heating  appar- 
atus and  constructed  a  thermometer  to  make  and  break  an 
electric  circuit.  He  perfected  it  and  in  1870,  when  on  duty  in 
New  York  Harbor,  displayed  it  at  an  exhibition  of  similar 
inventions  at  the  American  Institute,  winning  a  medal  and 
certificate.     Not  long  after  this,  some  men  interested  com- 


18  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

mercially  in  such  matters,  communicated  with  Dr.  Stern- 
berg, and  proposed  to  organize  a  company  to  introduce  and 
manufacture  his  invention,  but  this  required  him  to  resign  his 
commission  in  the  U.  S.  Army.  We  talked  the  matter  over, 
but  I  could  not  consent  for  him  to  give  up  his  profession  for 
a  position  that  offered  no  other  interests  than  building  up  a 
new  commercial  enterprise.  While  the  matter  was  still 
under  consideration  fortune  favored  us  and  an  order  came 
directing  Dr.  Sternberg  to  Fort  Warren  in  Boston  Harbor, 
where  other  thoughts  soon  crowded  out  the  business  prop- 
osition. No  further  effort  was  made  to  commercialize  the 
heat  regulator  or  dispose  of  the  patents,  as  our  situation  was 
not  favorable  for  following  up  the  matter.  One  morning, 
years  after,  a  man  called  on  Dr.  Sternberg  in  Baltimore,  say- 
ing he  represented  a  manufacturing  establishment  in  a  thriv- 
ing western  city.  He  had  learned  of  the  invention  of  the 
heat  regulator  and  he  offered  $5,000  for  the  patents.  Dr. 
Sternberg  had  become  deeply  interested  in  the  study  of  yel- 
low fever  and  bacteriology,  and  he  naturally  accepted  the 
offer  and  proceeded  to  Washington  with  the  purchaser  to 
transfer  the  patents.  They  had  scarcely  left  when  another 
agent  called  with  the  information  that  he  had  been  author- 
ized to  offer  twice  the  agreed  price.  I  told  him  I  felt  sure 
that  Dr.  Sternberg  considered  the  sale  with  the  other  agent 
completed.  Today  this  regulator  is  in  general  use,  modified, 
perhaps,  and  somewhat  improved,  but  the  principle  involved 
is  that  of  his  invention. 

FARMING     IN     KANSAS 

Fort  Riley  was  always  of  special  interest  to  me,  because 
shortly  after  my  arrival  we  made  a  visit  of  a  few  days  with 
Dr.  Sternberg's  father  and  mother,  who  were  living  on  a 
frontier  farm  in  western  Kansas.  This  trip  to  the  family  and 
the  spot  itself  had  much  interest,  for  it  caused  me  to  know 
even  then  that  Dr.  Sternberg  was  a  generous  and  unselfish 
man,  as  will  appear  from  the  following: 

While  stationed  at  Fort  Harker,  a  frontier  post  in  the 
early  history  of  the  state,  some  of  the  officers  of  the  Army 
had  secured  quarter  sections  of  the  fertile  land  close  to  the 
post.     Dr.   Sternberg  was  especially  fortunate  in  securing  a 


AFTER    THE    CIVIL    WAR  19 

piece  of  land  beautifully  situated  on  the  wooded  banks  of  a 
little  river  about  two  and  a  half  miles  from  Fort  Harker.  At 
the  time  Dr.  Sternberg  took  up  the  land,  his  father  was  a 
Lutheran  minister  and  president  of  a  college  in  Iowa,  and 
had  not  visited  his  son  for  years.  Dr.  Sternberg  urged  his 
father  to  make  him  a  visit  at  Fort  Harker  and  the  invitation 
was  readily  accepted.  The  son  was  naturally  pleased  to 
show  his  father  what  he  had  done,  and  to  talk  with  him  of 
the  plans  for  future  development  of  the  ranch.  His  father 
entered  into  the  plans  with  zeal  and  interest  because  he  was 
really  in  love  with  the  situation,  and  several  times  he 
remarked  what  a  splendid  place  it  would  be  for  the  younger 
boys  to  develop.  While  Dr.  Sternberg  readily  acquiesced  in 
his  opinion  he  did  not  think  it  a  fitting  place  for  his  refined 
educated  mother. 

Shortly  after  his  father's  visit  Dr.  Sternberg  was  ordered 
to  take  the  field  in  the  Indian  Territory.  In  correspondence, 
his  father  had  expressed  a  desire  to  possess  this  farm  in 
Kansas  and  finally  made  an  offer  to  purchase  it ;  but  the  gen- 
erous son  could  not  think  of  that.  In  a  quiet  and  delicate 
way,  he  made  it  possible  for  the  father  to  own  the  farm,  not- 
withstanding he  was  not  wholly  in  sympathy  with  the  pro- 
ject ;  for  he  was  devoted  to  his  lovely  mother  who,  he  knew, 
had  always  enjoyed  refined  society.  He  said  to  me  at  a 
later  date  "I  could  not  say  'No'  when  I  thought  there  was  a 
prospect  that  father  might  lighten  the  burden  of  life  that  had 
been  his  to  bear  for  so  many  years  of  ministerial  and  college 
work  on  salaries  never  very  large." 

When  his  mother  arrived,  she  expressed  herself  pleased 
with  the  beauty  of  nature  and  the  mild  climate.  She  made 
friends  at  Ellsworth  and  there  were  some  settlers  living  miles 
away,  representatives  of  good  families  in  the  East,  who  came 
to  call.  More  settlers  came  and  a  town  grew  up  not  far  away 
where  Rev.  Dr.  Sternberg  was  asked  to  take  charge  of  a 
church.  The  mother  played  the  organ  and  taught  in  the  Sun- 
day school.  With  advancing  years  and  fewer  cares  Mother 
Sternberg  began  a  study  of  the  wild  flowers,  which  she 
painted  separately  and  in  bouquets,  to  impart  to  her  Eastern 
friends  an  idea  of  the  beauty  and  interest  of  the  prairies.  In 
fact,  she  kept  up  her  accomplishments,  music,  painting  and 


20  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

correspondence,  notwithstanding  all  the  duties  a  loving 
mother  finds  in  the  care  of  a  large  family  of  boys. 

Rev.  Dr.  Sternberg  became  recognized  as  one  of  the  lead- 
ing educators  of  Kansas.  Years  of  prosperity  and  adversity 
alternated  and  while  more  acres  were  added  and  the  herds  of 
cattle,  horses  and  ponies  grew  larger,  the  lot  of  the  average 
farmer  and  stockraiser  in  the  West  was  at  that  time  far  from 
enviable.  These  industries  brought  fatigue,  and  at  times 
very  little  profit.  Meantime  the  younger  brothers  were 
growing  to  manhood  and  wished  for  higher  education.  They 
were  descended  from  a  line  of  college  ancestors  and  did  not 
fancy  spending  their  lives  on  a  ranch.  One  by  one  they  be- 
came interested  in  various  professions  and  in  business.  Dr. 
Sternberg  as  the  eldest  of  the  family  felt  interest  in  the  suc- 
cess of  his  younger  brothers,  and  he  gave  them  every  assist- 
ance from  his  own  salary. 

Some  years  later,  on  a  visit  to  the  family  before  going  to 
Europe,  Dr.  Sternberg  said  to  me  "Don't  you  think  it  would 
be  nice  to  give  mother  a  birthday  present  of  a  house  in  town, 
and  give  her  the  deed  so  that  it  will  be  entirely  hers?  Now 
that  the  boys  are  going  away  it  must  be  lonely  for  her  on  the 
farm."  I  said,  "I  agree  with  you  and  think  this  would  be 
just  the  time  to  do  it."  While  we  were  visiting  he  told  her 
to  get  a  plan  for  just  such  a  house  as  she  desired,  and  she 
should  have  it  for  her  home  always.  She  selected  a  good 
plan  and  the  house  when  completed  was  a  great  joy  to  all 
of  us.  The  farm  was  later  sold  to  become  part  of  a  cattle 
ranch  owned  by  a  large  company. 

governor's    island 

The  order  relieving  Dr.  Sternberg  from  Fort  Riley  took  us 
east,  and  he  was  assigned  to  duty  at  Governor's  Island,  New 
York  Harbor,  where  he  was  to  be  assistant  surgeon.  We 
arrived  there  June  23,  1870,  and  were  greatly  pleased  with 
our  new  station  and  the  novelty  of  our  surroundings.  It  was 
a  busy  post,  for  at  that  time  there  were  many  military  inter- 
ests centered  there.  It  was  headquarters  of  the  Department 
of  the  East,  a  rendezvous  for  recruits,  with  a  permanent  gar- 
rison to  do  military  duty,  and  also  an  ordnance  depot.  The 
officers'  quarters  on  the  outside  of  Fort  Columbus  were  con- 


AFTER    THE    CIVIL    WAR  21 

sidered  good  for  the  period  in  which  they  were  built.  The 
hospital  was  almost  modern  in  construction  and  appoint- 
ments, and  ample  for  the  care  of  patients  at  so  large  a  post. 
The  old  fort  in  the  center  of  the  Island  was  used  as  barracks 
for  the  troops  on  garrison  duty,  the  company  officers  occupy- 
ing quarters  in  the  inclosure.  The  large  old  antiquated  fort 
known  as  Fort  William  Henry  was  used  to  house  general 
prisoners  from  other  stations.  An  interesting  little  church 
was  always  shown  to  visitors  as  an  honored  spot,  and  there 
were  pleasant  memories  associated  with  the  history  of  the 
post. 

From  our  quarters,  we  enjoyed  an  extensive  view  of  the 
bay  and  Brooklyn.  The  constant  traffic  on  the  water  never 
failed  to  bring  suggestions  of  life  and  thrift.  The  front  of 
our  quarters  faced  the  parade  grounds,  and  morning  and 
evening  we  listened  to  the  strirring  music  of  the  band  and 
watched  the  splendid  type  of  American  soldiers  step 
promptly  and  briskly  to  the  commands  of  the  officers  in  charge 
for  "guard  mount"  and  "retreat."  A  few  months  at  Gov- 
ernor's Island  passed  quickly. 

YELLOW     FEVER 

Early  one  morning  in  September,  1870,  my  husband 
returned  from  his  duty  at  the  hospital  with  an  anxious,  care- 
worn look.  I  had  known  for  several  hours  that  he  was 
watching  a  patient  in  the  hospital  with  great  care,  making 
frequent  trips  to  observe  conditions.  I  therefore  begged  him 
to  tell  me  the  situation,  to  which  importunities  he  replied:  "I 
suspect  we  have  a  serious  and  unusual  form  of  disease  on  the 
Island  and  I  am  doing  all  I  possibly  can  to  make  an  early  and 
true  diagnosis.  I  fear  yellow  fever."  As  the  junior  medical 
officer,  he  consulted  frequently  with  the  post  surgeon,  who 
was  greatly  puzzled,  and  they  requested  consultation  with  the 
physicians  of  the  New  York  and  Brooklyn  health  depart- 
ments. The  disease  baffled  the  combined  skill  of  all.  That 
it  was  a  malignant  epidemic  was  certain  from  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  sick  list  increased  and  the  fact  that  several 
patients  died  after  a  brief  illness.  At  this  important  moment 
it  became  known  that  a  surgeon  on  duty  at  West  Point  had 
seen  yellow  fever  in  Mexico  during  his  service  there.     His 


22  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

presence  being  immediately  requested,  he  supported  Dr. 
Sternberg  in  the  provisional  diagnosis  and  it  was  announced 
that  the  disease  was  yellow  fever.  Meantime  all  the  medical 
men  who  had  been  called  in  consultation  had  learned  of  the 
progress  of  the  disease  and  agreed  that  it  could  be  no  other 
than  yellow  fever. 

As  soon  as  it  was  announced  that  yellow  fever  was  spread- 
ing over  the  Island  the  greatest  consternation  prevailed. 
New  York  immediately  quarantined  against  Governor's 
Island.  The  sick  were  ordered  to  the  West  Bank  Quaran- 
tine Hospital  far  down  the  bay.  My  husband  was  detailed  to 
accompany  them  and  a  steamer  was  immediately  sent  to 
transfer  the  patients.  Neither  Dr.  Sternberg  nor  I  had  ever 
had  yellow  fever  at  that  time.  I  saw  the  steamer  arrive  and 
watched  the  taking  of  the  sick  (eighty  patients),  each  one 
covered  closely  with  a  sheet  and  carried  on  an  iron  bed. 
When  all  was  in  readiness,  my  husband  ran  to  me  and  said : 
"Be  a  brave  little  woman.  I  will  come  soon  to  care  for  you." 
Suppressing  my  emotions  for  his  sake,  I  bade  him  a  hasty 
good-bye,  ran  quickly  to  the  second  floor  of  my  deserted  home, 
and  threw  wide  open  the  large  windows  that  overlooked  the 
bay.  I  had  not  long  to  wait.  The  boat  had  already  steamed 
up  and  soon  shoved  off.  As  it  passed,  I  saw  my  husband 
alone  well  on  the  bow  of  the  vessel,  waving  good-bye  to  me. 

In  a  very  short  time,  I  was  made  to  realize  that  I  had  cares 
and  duties  which  I  would  have  to  meet  alone.  Many  new 
patients  were  stricken,  increasing  the  care  and  responsibility 
for  Dr.  Sternberg,  as  all  the  patients  among  enlisted  men 
were  sent  to  the  quarantine.  The  chaplain,  who  occupied  the 
quarters  next  to  ours  on  the  east,  was  suddenly  attacked,  and 
quickly  succumbed.  He  did  not  report  his  illness  at  once, 
thinking  he  was  suffering  from  fatigue  and  exhaustion  and 
that  rest  would  restore  him,  but  alas,  it  was  too  late  when  he 
did  call  for  aid.  My  dear  friend  and  neighbor,  the  wife  of 
the  chief  surgeon,  was  at  this  time  very  ill.  She  thought  she 
was  hopelessly  ill  and  asked  to  see  me  to  say  good-bye.  I 
went  to  her  room  and  said  as  many  cheerful,  hopeful  things 
as  I  could,  then  I  came  away.  On  my  return  I  found  the 
commanding  officer  standing  at  my  door.  He  was  appar- 
ently glad  to  see  me,  and  said,  "There  is  a  small  boat  just  off 


AFTER    THE    CIVIL    WAR  23 

our  landing  waiting  for  an  answer  from  you.  Dr.  Sternberg 
has  communicated  with  a  cousin  of  his,  asking  him  to  come 
and  take  you  and  your  maid  with  him." 

The  commanding  officer  seemed  very  anxious  to  have  me 
go,  and  I  replied  that  I  could  not  think  of  going.  I  felt  it  my 
duty  to  myself  to  stay  where  I  could  hear  from  my  husband. 
The  boat  came  and  went  every  day  at  the  quarantine  station 
and  I  would  at  least  receive  a  letter.  To  all  of  which  the 
commanding  officer  finally  answered,  "You  really  must  go" ; 
and  then  he  told  me  that  Dr.  Sternberg  had  requested  that 
the  garrison  be  sent  from  the  infected  island  to  a  clean  new 
place,  David's  Island,  N.  Y.  H.  My  appeal  that  we  were  quaran- 
tined by  New  York  and  would  be  subject  to  arrest  brought 
forth  only  this  comment:  "We  thought  of  all  of  that;  my 
barge  will  take  you  and  your  maid  over  to  New  York  at  11 
o'clock  tonight ;  your  cousin  will  meet  you  at  the  Battery 
with  a  carriage ;  you  will  get  immediately  into  the  carriage 
and  proceed  to  get  out  of  New  York  state  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible." With  his  promise  that  he  would  look  after  our  house, 
I  consented  to  go.  I  left  silver,  china,  everything,  just  as  it 
was  when  we  were  at  home.  A  medical  officer,  a  friend  of 
ours,  arrived  before  I  left,  and  took  our  house  and  quarters. 
He  had  scarcely  become  settled  when  he  was  seized  by  the 
terrible  disease  from  which  he  never  fully  recovered.  Two 
prisoners  (with  ball  and  chain)  were  detailed  to  take  care 
of  him,  the  house,  and  the  garden.  I  am  happy  to  state  that 
one  of  the  men  proved  a  capable  caretaker  and  good  nurse,  so 
much  so  that  he  was  rewarded  with  a  remission  of  his 
sentence  for  faithful  and  considerate  service  during  the 
epidemic. 

We  were  met  by  Dr.  Sternberg's  cousin,  a  prominent  citi- 
zen and  prosperous  merchant  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  at  the 
appointed  hour  and  place  and  arrived  late  at  night  at  his 
home.  In  order  that  our  cousin  should  not  get  into  trouble 
with  the  health  authorities  of  his  city  and  as  a  proper  pre- 
cautionary measure  my  maid  and  I  kept  to  our  rooms  for 
quite  a  while.  When  I  felt  the  maid  was  in  no  danger  from 
the  disease  or  of  conveying  the  infection  to  others,  she  was 
sent  to  her  home,  and  I  grew  bolder  and  mingled  with  the 


24  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

family  like  any  other  guest.  After  weeks  of  hard,  anxious 
service  at  the  quarantine,  I  again  saw  my  husband ;  while  in 
New  York  on  business  he  made  a  flying  visit  to  see  me.  He 
showed  plainly  by  loss  of  flesh  and  color  how  great  had  been 
his  care  and  anxiety.  I  said  at  once,  "I  cannot  let  you  go 
back  alone,"  to  which  he  replied,  "I  cannot  take  you  with 
me."  But  by  much  pleading  I  finally  gained  my  point ;  we 
went  to  Staten  Island,  met  the  boat  from  the  quarantine  sta- 
tion and  were  soon  across  the  bay  and  approaching  the 
island. 

As  we  drew  near  the  wharf,  I  could  see  convalescent  sol- 
diers, who  showed  in  every  way  evidences  of  suffering  from 
a  serious  illness,  while  on  one  side  of  the  wharf  was  a  large 
stack  of  new  coffins.  The  quarantine  officer  met  us  cheer- 
fully and  seemed  really  glad  to  see  me,  remarking  that  it  had 
been  very  lonely  for  my  husband.  (Thinking  again  over 
these  situations,  I  cannot  help  feeling  that  my  husband  was 
at  that  time  as  much  of  a  hero  as  any  general  commanding 
a  campaign.  A  general  in  battle  fights  his  foe  in  the  open; 
a  medical  man  has  to  fight  the  invisible  foe  of  infectious  dis- 
ease, lurking  in  the  darkness,  always  in  hidden  and  unex- 
pected places.)  The  wife  of  the  officer  at  the  quarantine  sta- 
tion was  a  gentle  little  lady  who  welcomed  me  cordially,  and 
did  everything  to  make  my  stay  on  the  island  pleasant.  My 
husband  spent  a  great  deal  of  his  time  with  his  patients,  with 
his  microscope  and  in  writing  up  his  bedside  notes.  I  learned 
much  from  asking  questions  when  we  were  walking  or  sitting 
in  our  room,  for  Dr.  Sternberg  was  always  ready  and  willing 
to  converse  with  me  on  subjects  that  interested  him  and  he 
was  pleased  to  have  me  take  an  interest  in  his  professional 
work.  After  the  first  frost,  in  October,  we  returned  to  our 
home  at  Governor's  Island  and  found  everything  as  we  had 
left  it.  We  had  lost  only  our  mattresses,  bedding,  rugs  and 
some  other  things,  for  it  was  then  the  custom  to  disinfect 
with  "fire  and  brimstone."  The  autumn  season  of  the  year 
is  always  sad  for  me,  but  it  seemed  doubly  so  that  particular 
year  on  account  of  the  many  vacancies  and  changes  in  the 
personnel  of  the  garrison.  We  spent  a  very  quiet  winter  at 
Governor's  Island  and  really  welcomed  an  order  which  took 
us  to  Fort  Hamilton,  N.  Y.  H. 


AFTER    THE    CIVIL     WAR  25 


FORT     HAMILTON 


Fort  Hamilton  guards  the  entrance  to  New  York  Bay  at  the 
Narrows,  and  is  directly  across  the  channel  from  Fort  Wads- 
worth  on  the  Staten  Island  side.  It  has  no  artificial  defenses 
on  the  land  side,  but  on  the  side  facing  the  Narrows  are  elab- 
orate earthworks  covering  the  emplacements  for  the  guns, 
which  are  of  6,  8,  10  and  12  inch  caliber,  and  their  magazines. 

On  the  whole,  it  was  a  delightful  post  with  the  First  Artil- 
lery for  the  garrison.  The  quarters  were  comfortable  and  we 
were  situated  near  the  hospital.  The  officers'  quarters  were 
widely  separated;  some  in  the  old  casemates,  others  outside 
on  the  driveway  and  elsewhere.  We  enjoyed  the  two  months 
we  spent  at  Fort  Hamilton  and  warm  friendships  were  formed 
which  lasted  for  long  years. 

FORT     WARREN 

The  time  seemed  short  before  an  order  carried  us  to  Fort 
Warren  in  Boston  Harbor,  nine  miles  down  the  bay.  When 
we  arrived  there,  June  30,  1871,  we  were  given  a  warm  wel- 
come by  the  officers  of  the  Fifth  Artillery  and  their  wives. 
The  officers'  quarters  were  in  the  casemates,  of  historic  inter- 
est, for  it  was  here  that  Confederate  officers  of  high  rank  were 
quartered  as  prisoners  during  our  Civil  War.  The  surgeon's 
quarters  were  in  the  quadrangle,  close  by  the  hospital  and  near 
the  quarters  of  the  commanding  officer.  The  hospital  was  a 
very  good  one  of  its  kind,  but  since  it  was  also  in  the  case- 
mates it  had  very  little  sunlight. 

Every  medical  officer  stationed  at  these  forts  has  reported 
against  occupation  of  the  casemates  as  quarters.  They  are 
damp  and  cold,  and  would  cause  much  sickness,  if  fires  were 
not  constantly  kept  in  them.  Arms  rust  in  their  leather  when 
there  are  no  fires,  moisture  bedews  the  interior  of  the  walls 
and  trickles  to  the  floor,  well  accounted  for  in  the  explanation 
of  General  Warren  in  1874. 

The  casemates  are  arched  with  bricks,  the  arches  covered 
with  sheet  lead,  and  the  valleys  between  them  filled  with  earth. 
A  thin  layer  of  concrete  with  a  brick  pavement  over  all  com- 
pletes the  roofing.  The  weight  of  the  covering  above  the  lead 
presses  the  hard  parts  through  the  sheet  metal,  and  thus  per- 
mits water  to  reach  the  arches  and  soak  from  the  valleys  into 
the  interior  of  the  casemates.     Moreover  in  winter  the  case- 


26  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

mates  become  chilled  throughout,  and  retain  a  low  temperature 
far  into  the  summer,  as  has  been  shown  by  the  presence  of 
ice  in  the  valleys  when  uncovered  for  repairs. 

Dr.  Sternberg  spent  the  morning  hours  doing  professional 
work  at  the  hospital.  Later  on  in  the  day  he  did  professional 
reading  or  reading  on  such  subjects  as  heredity  and  the  influ- 
ence of  environment.  This  post  was  at  the  time  in  charge  of 
the  Engineer  Corps  of  the  Army  for  repairs  and  improve- 
ments. There  was  only  one  company  of  troops  at  the  post  to 
do  military  duty,  and  two  ladies  beside  myself  in  the  garrison. 
The  bachelor  officers  were  very  kind  and  courteous  and  often 
we  had  invitations  to  the  officers'  mess  to  dine  and  enjoy  music 
in  the  evening.  One  of  the  officers  played  a  good  accompani- 
ment on  the  piano,  Dr.  Sternberg  played  the  flute  well,  and  I 
played  a  Spanish  guitar,  which  had  been  given  me  by  my 
mother.  With  the  coming  of  the  spring,  one  of  our  pastimes 
was  to  take  our  books  and  sit  on  the  parapet,  watching  the 
ocean  steamers  go  and  come.  Then  for  relaxation  there  was 
always  fishing;  we  caught  fish  from  the  wharf  or  from  the 
rocks  near  the  beach. 

In  partnership  with  one  of  the  officers  we  purchased  a  small 
sail  boat.  My  husband  as  a  boy  spent  many  years  near  the 
Susquehanna  River  in  New  York  state  and  he  knew  how  to 
handle  a  boat  and  manage  a  sail.  We  sailed  often  over  to 
Nantasket  and  the  other  seaside  resorts,  while  the  trip  to 
Boston  was  usually  made  on  the  boat  used  for  the  purpose 
by  the  Engineer  officers  in  charge  of  the  work  on  the  fortifica- 
tions. This  boat  made  but  one  trip  a  week  and,  in  order  to 
be  independent,  we  purchased,  with  another  officer,  an  interest 
in  a  larger  boat.  In  this  boat  we  sailed  or  rowed  over  to  Hull 
just  across  the  channel,  where  we  took  one  of  the  large  excur- 
sion boats  making  regular  trips  to  and  from  Boston  to  the  sea- 
side cities. 

NEW     ORLEANS 

July  22,  1872,  an  order  came  for  Dr.  Sternberg  to  proceed 
to  New  Orleans,  to  relieve  an  older  surgeon  who  wished  to  go 
north  to  attend  to  some  business  and  to  spend  the  summer. 
Upon  our  arrival  in  New  Orleans,  we  were  met  with  the  infor- 
mation that  there  was  yellow  fever  in  the  city.  General  Emory 
was  in  command  of   the   Department  and   he   advised   us  to 


AFTER    THE    CIVIL    WAR  27 

arrange  for  board  with  a  lady  who  had  taken  good  care  of 
him.  This  we  did  and  I  remained  at  home  and  roamed  in  the 
garden,  read  some  interesting  books,  and  took  exercise  in  fan- 
ning myself  instead  of  walking  outside  of  the  premises,  until 
we  knew  what  parts  of  the  city  were  infected  and  to  be 
avoided. 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  a  busy  man,  he  found  much  to  do  in  the 
office  of  the  medical  director  and  in  his  quest  for  knowledge 
of  yellow  fever. 

The  evenings  we  spent  at  home;  sometimes  we  sat  on  the 
veranda,  at  others,  we  read  aloud  and  discussed  our  reading. 
But  the  mosquitoes  were  very  bad  and  annoyed  the  doctor  so 
much  that  one  evening  he  lost  interest  in  the  reading,  and  he 
felt  he  could  not  do  anything  that  would  be  more  appreciated 
than  to  kill  mosquitoes.  He  was  quick  in  his  movements  and 
soon  had  a  goodly  number  lying  on  the  marble  top  of  the 
bureau — to  count  them  when  the  sport  of  killing  should  be 
over.  In  a  few  moments  we  saw  something  moving  near  the 
dead  mosquitoes — we  watched  carefully  the  movements  of  a 
train  of  ants.  They  had  come  in  great  numbers  and  hastily 
formed  two  lines,  one  going  and  the  other  returning  and 
soon  carried  away  the  dead  mosquitoes,  all  except  the  wings. 
They  evidently  had  ability  to  communicate  and  command  for 
they  had  in  the  quickest  and  most  efficient  manner  carried 
away  all  remains  of  the  mosquitoes.  We  had  witnessed  a 
demonstration  of  intelligence  in  the  ant,  that  led  us  to  want  to 
know  more,  a  desire  which  we  soon  gratified  by  reading 
Lubbock. 


CHAPTER    FOUR 
FORT    BARRANCAS 

September  2,  1872,  we  arrived  at  Fort  Barrancas,  where  Dr. 
Sternberg  served  as  post  surgeon  for  the  next  three  years.  The 
post  is  9  miles  from  Pensacola  down  the  beautiful  bay.  We 
found  the  Fifth  Artillery  under  orders  to  proceed  north,  and 
the  troops  were  busily  engaged  in  packing  and  preparing  for  the 
move.  The  First  Artillery  was  to  relieve  them  and  was 
anticipated  at  any  time.  We  hastened  to  get  settled  in  our 
new  home,  for  we  had  friends  coming,  and  at  that  period  in 
our  history  army  courtesy  and  kindness  were  proverbial. 

Barrancas  was  not  an  attractive  post.  The  officers'  quarters 
were  new  frame  buildings,  neither  well  planned  nor  well  built. 
We  chose  a  set  of  quarters  near  the  hospital ;  the  house  was 
surrounded  by  a  wide  porch  which  added  to  our  comfort  dur- 
ing the  summer  season.  From  the  front  we  had  an  extensive 
view  of  the  beautiful  bay.  At  times  the  limpid  water  came 
and  went  in  ripples  over  the  clear  white  sand  on  the  beach 
and  the  sky  above  was  as  blue  and  cloudless  as  an  Italian  sky — 
a  view  both  restful  and  refreshing.  The  bar  at  the  entrance 
was  always  lively  with  breakers  foaming  over  the  reef,  and 
the  distant  Gulf  was  grand  in  its  great  expanse.  Immediately 
across  the  bay  from  Barrancas  was  old  Fort  Pickens  with  an 
ordnance  sergeant  as  the  sole  keeper  of  a  once  important 
fortified  position.  To  the  left  of  the  entrance  to  the  harbor 
stood  the  picturesque  remains  of  the  old  fortification  known 
as  Fort  McRea.  We  went  often  by  boat  to  fish  near  this  ruin 
or  just  back  of  it  in  the  lagoon.  Returning  up  the  coast  we 
passed  a  fort  known  as  the  old  Spanish  Fort,  a  most  interest- 
ing place  with  many  features  considered  important  at  the  time 
it  was  built,  now  perfectly  out  of  date  and  of  no  use  what- 
ever. This  fort  was  not  far  from  the  hospital  and  its  gray 
walls  and  green  slopes  looked  picturesque  and  inviting  from 
the  bay. 

The  hospital  was  a  wooden  structure  situated  at  a  consider- 
able distance  from  the  company  barracks.  It  was  on  the  brow 
of  a  bluff  some  30  feet  high  overlooking  the  bay.  There  were 
no  trees  nor  shrubs  to  shade  it,  but  the  green  slopes  of  the 
old  fort  afforded  a  little  relief  for  the  eyes  of  the  patients. 


FORT    BARRANCAS  29 

We  were  more  fortunate  than  most  of  the  residents  of  the 
garrison,  as  in  the  grounds  surrounding  our  quarters  there 
were  a  number  of  trees,  one  large  magnolia,  one  Pride  of 
India,  and  several  chime  ball  trees.  After  we  were  settled  in 
our  new  home,  our  first  and  greatest  desire  was  for  the  relaxa- 
tion and  pleasure  of  planning  and  cultivating  our  garden.  We 
had  no  grass,  nothing  but  sand  on  which  to  step  after  we  left 
the  board  walk.  This  board  walk  led  to  every  house  in  the 
garrison  and  had  been  constructed  to  keep  the  children  and 
dogs  from  the  "burr  grass."  We  soon  learned  that  a  kind  of 
blue  grass  could  be  cultivated  if  one  could  procure  soil  and 
give  it  care.  My  husband  therefore  contracted  with  the  cap- 
tain of  a  little  schooner  that  came  from  up  the  bay  to  a  neigh- 
boring village  to  bring  us  some  soil.  We  cultivated  not  only 
grass  but  all  kinds  of  blooming  plants  and  very  small  fruits, 
which  lent  an  interest  to  a  life  that  might  well  have  been 
uninteresting  and  tedious. 

About  one  mile  distant  from  Fort  Barrancas  was  a  little 
village  populated  principally  by  married  clerks  and  employees 
of  the  Navy  Yard,  day  laborers,  pilots,  fishermen,  laundresses, 
shop-keepers  and  others.  This  was  known  as  Warrington. 
Another  village  just  beyond  the  Navy  Yard  and  comprising 
the  same  class  of  citizens  was  known  as  Woolsey.  The  Navy 
Yard  was  once  a  manufacturing  yard  of  some  importance,  but 
a  great  part  of  it  was  destroyed  during  our  Civil  War.  How- 
ever there  were  considerable  life  and  activity  there  during 
the  three  years  we  spent  at  Barrancas.  Warships  came  in  for 
supplies  and  slight  repairs  and  the  ironclads  were  towed  down 
there  to  go  out  of  commission  and  to  be  wholly  retired.  It 
was  quite  an  event  when  they  came  in,  each  in  tow  of  an 
active  warship.  There  were  dinner  parties  on  ship  and  on 
shore  and  large  evening  parties  at  Pensacola  and  Barrancas. 

In  the  early  autumn,  Dr.  Sternberg  received  an  order  to 
report  for  temporary  duty  in  New  Orleans.  The  duty  was  for 
a  short  term  and  I  therefore  preferred  to  remain  at  home.  As 
our  house  was  at  some  distance  from  the  other  quarters,  my 
husband  had  exacted  a  promise  from  one  of  the  servants  that 
she  would  never  leave  me  alone,  particularly  at  night,  and  he 
also  left  a  revolver  loaded  for  my  protection  in  case  of 
trouble.  All  went  well  for  several  nights,  when  suddenly,  late 
in  the  night,  we  were  awakened  by  concerted  cackling  in  the 


30  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

chicken  house.  I  had  purchased  some  fine  bred  chickens  to 
interest  me  in  something,  although  I  knew  very  little  about 
poultry  raising.  By  some  unknown  accident  the  chickens  had 
gotten  out  of  their  house  and  were  running  for  life  through 
the  grounds.  Expecting  to  see  a  thief,  I  was  amazed  at  the 
spectacle  which  I  beheld :  a  fine  fox  with  a  great  bushy  tail 
amusing  himself  by  catching  the  hens  and  allowing  them  to 
go  free  after  a  few  moments  of  torture.  My  maid  said :  "Please 
shoot  off  the  pistol,  that  will  frighten  the  fox  away."  But  that 
would  also  frighten  the  officer  of  the  guard,  and  cause  excite- 
ment in  the  garrison,  and  someone  would  come  running  to  see 
if  I  was  in  real  trouble.  The  fox  kept  up  his  sport  until  day- 
light and  when  we  went  into  the  yard  in  the  morning  there 
were  feathers  flying  in  all  parts  of  the  grounds  and  many  of 
my  beautiful  hens  had  gone  to  feed  the  foxes.  On  the  return 
of  my  husband  from  New  Orleans,  he  brought  me  a  well  bred 
horse  named  "Robert  E.  Lee"  and  a  phaeton,  which  proved  a 
source  of  great  delight  for  both  of  us. 

As  I  review  the  past,  I  often  think  that  one  reason  why 
my  husband  accomplished  so  much  in  life  was  that  he  always 
had  a  system  in  his  work.  The  morning  hours  he  spent  at  the 
hospital,  or  perhaps  in  consultation  with  the  doctors  on  serious 
cases  at  the  Navy  Yard,  or  in  one  of  the  villages.  For  rest 
and  relaxation  we  took  drives  to  the  country  in  search  of 
flowers  and  of  new  interests  in  plant  life.  Growing  abun- 
dantly on  the  edges  of  the  swamps  in  Florida,  there  are  two 
interesting  varieties  of  the  pitcher  plant,  and  the  inconspicuous 
"fly  catcher,"  which  kills  its  victim  by  a  poison  and  absorbs 
sustenance  by  clasping  between  its  petals  and  digesting  the 
fly.  The  whole  atmosphere  seems  filled  at  times  with  the  per- 
fume of  the  jessamines  and  other  tropical  flowers.  These  little 
excursions  were  exceedingly  interesting,  because  we  found 
many  new  varieties  of  flowers  and  grasses,  and  the  change 
was  a  rest  for  Dr.  Sternberg. 

During  the  hours  spent  in  the  open,  we  did  not  seriously 
mind  the  many  kinds  of  insects  and  reptiles  flourishing  in 
these  parts.  We  became  so  accustomed  to  the  sight  of  the 
moccasin  snakes  under  the  board  walk,  of  the  little  slender 
snake  that  crept  up  the  lattice  work  around  the  porch  and  even 
up  the  window  shutters,  that  they  engendered  little  fear.    But 


FORT    BARRANCAS  31 

the  king  of  all  pests,  the  most  persistent  and  annoying  of  all, 
was  the  mosquito.  We  could  not  be  comfortable  anywhere  in 
the  evening  without  using  a  large  palm  leaf  fan  so  briskly  that 
the  mosquitoes  could  not  approach  us.  We  finally  planned 
and  constructed  on  the  porch  a  little  shelter,  covered  with  fine 
net  (wire  for  insect  screening  had  not  been  introduced  at  that 
time)  and  here  we  could  be  assured  of  some  degree  of  comfort. 
The  problem  of  getting  fresh  milk  was  very  hard  to  solve 
and  quite  expensive.  We  had  engaged  milk  from  a  woman 
living  in  Warrington.  The  boy  who  delivered  it  was  con- 
stantly meeting  misfortune  and  would  arrive  often  with  much 
less  than  I  expected.  The  contractor,  who  furnished  the  beef 
to  the  post  inquired  if  I  was  getting  everything  I  desired.  The 
time  seemed  propitious  to  ask  him  if  he  knew  where  I  could 
get  a  good  cow.  He  frankly  told  me  he  did  not  know  of  any 
I  would  call  good,  but  he  had  a  native  cow  with  a  calf,  that  he 
would  be  glad  to  bring  me  for  no  other  remuneration  than  her 
food — adding  that  she  would  have  to  be  taught  to  eat,  since 
she  knew  nothing  of  cultivated  food.  This  was  a  rather  appal- 
ling prospect,  but  he  volunteered  to  show  the  stable  man  the 
process,  and  as  I  had  never  seen  a  cow  that  did  not  know  how 
to  eat,  I  consented.  Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day, 
the  cow  was  delivered,  and  our  stable  man  with  the  assistance 
and  guidance  of  the  contractor,  took  a  wisp  of  hay  and  dipped 
it  into  the  corn  meal  or  bran,  forced  it  into  the  mouth  of  the 
cow,  holding  her  mouth  closed  for  quite  a  while.  She  did  not 
relish  the  food,  never  having  tasted  anything  like  it  before. 
The  process  of  securing  the  milk  was  to  her  wholly  new,  and 
at  times  wildly  exciting.  It  required  two  men  to  hold  the 
calf,  while  the  other  secured  what  milk  he  could  for  us.  This 
lasted  but  a  few  days,  however,  for  one  evening  the  cow 
became  excited  and  kicked  the  calf,  breaking  its  leg  in  her 
frenzy.  The  contractor  when  informed  of  the  accident  took  it 
very  philosophically  and  substituted  another  cow  without  calf. 
This  cow  also  did  not  know  how  to  eat  any  kind  of  corn  meal, 
bran  or  hay  and  she  did  not  wish  to  learn.  Having  no  calf  she 
never  came  home ;  she  was  very  small  and  went  so  far  into  the 
swamp  land  to  browse  that  the  man  could  not  find  her  at  times. 
We  learned  that  she  likewise  had  a  temper  out  of  proportion 
to  her  size.     It  had  been  clearly  demonstrated  that  the  man 


32  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

could  not  manage  her  and  we  got  very  little  milk.  I  thus 
acquired  considerable  information  in  regard  to  the  small  breed 
of  cattle  then  thriving  in  Florida.  They  existed  on  grass  and 
green  twigs  and  they  furnished  the  residents  of  that  section 
of  our  country  with  fresh  beef  and  perhaps  would  have  yielded 
a  sufficient  supply  of  milk  if  we  had  considered  nature's  pro- 
vision for  the  cows  of  that  latitude.  Men  had  not  at  that 
date  been  interested  in  trying  to  import  any  other  breed  into 
Florida. 

The  summer  months  at  Barrancas  were  not  to  be  dreaded 
on  account  of  the  heat.  The  early  mornings  and  evenings 
were  comfortable  under  cover;  the  breeze  from  over  the  bay 
was  always  refreshing.  The  white  sand  on  our  extensive 
beach  looked  cool  and  clean.  We  early  learned  to  get  our 
exercise  in  the  freshness  of  the  morning  hours;  after  nine 
o'clock  we  did  not  go  in  the  sunlight  except  on  business  of 
importance. 

YELLOW  FEVER  AT  BARRANCAS 

One  morning,  late  in  the  summer  of  1873,  Dr.  Sternberg 
returned  from  "sick  call"  at  the  hospital  looking  troubled  and 
anxious,  and  when  I  asked  him  the  cause  of  his  anxiety  he 
replied  "I  have  a  very  sick  patient  about  whom  I  am  extremely 
anxious,  I  am  almost  sure  he  has  yellow  fever."  There  had 
been  no  cases  that  season  in  Florida,  none  nearer  than  New 
Orleans.  All  the  rest  of  the  day,  he  made  frequent  visits  to 
the  hospital.  The  next  morning  he  expressed  a  desire  to  go 
at  once  to  the  hospital,  but  I  said,  "You  must  not  go  without 
a  cup  of  hot  coffee,"  and  I  ran  to  the  kitchen  to  hasten  the 
serving.  On  my  entering  the  kitchen,  the  cook,  a  soldier's 
wife,  said  to  me  "I  have  been  up  all  night,  my  children  are 
very  sick,  will  you  please  ask  Dr.  Sternberg  to  see  my  chil- 
dren." I  hastily  told  my  husband,  who  went  immediately 
to  the  hospital.  After  a  short  time,  he  returned  and  said  to 
me,  "Please  send  the  cook  home  at  once  to  take  care  of  her 
children  as  they  are  very  ill  with  yellow  fever."  The  woman 
had  not  reported  the  illness  of  the  children,  thinking  she  could 
care  for  them  herself,  and  there  had  been  no  cases  of  fever 
that  season. 

Dr.  Sternberg  went  at  once  to  the  adjutant's  office  to  report 
the  existence  of  yellow   fever,  and  knowing  from  previous 


FORT    BARRANCAS  33 

experience  the  good  results  obtained  by  moving  troops  from 
infected  localities,  he  recommended  the  immediate  removal  of 
the  garrison  across  the  bay  to  a  camp  near  old  Fort  Pickens. 
The  order  was  issued  at  once  and  there  was  "gathering  in  hot 
haste."  Everyone  was  soon  packing  and  on  the  move.  We 
had  only  one  steam  tug  and  one  sloop  for  transporting  the 
command,  but  frequent  trips  were  made  and  the  commandant 
at  the  navy  yard  sent  a  larger  tug  to  assist  in  getting  the  bag- 
gage and  camp  equipment  over.  Before  that  day  had  passed 
all  were  on  the  other  side  of  the  bay,  with  the  exception  of 
the  commanding  officer  (who  had  previously  had  an  attack  of 
yellow  fever  in  Mexico),  Dr.  Sternberg,  myself,  one  company 
officer  ill  with  a  light  attack  of  typhoid  fever,  the  hospital 
steward,  the  nurses  at  the  hospital,  and  some  enlisted  men  to 
care  for  the  animals  at  the  quartermaster's  stables.  Dr. 
Sternberg  decided  it  would  be  advisable  for  us  to  take  a  few 
things  and  go  over  to  the  quarters  adjoining  the  officer  con- 
valescing from  typhoid  fever,  in  order  that  we  could  look 
after  his  comfort  and  diet.  For  several  days  a  few  patients 
returned  from  Fort  Pickens  to  the  hospital ;  all  of  these  men 
had  been  previously  infected,  twelve  cases  in  all.  The 
beautiful  children  of  our  cook  died  very  quickly,  as  did  also 
the  first  patient  in  the  hospital.  The  troops  remained  at  Fort 
Pickens  until  after  a  light  frost  in  the  autumn.  Everything 
that  could  be  of  possible  service  in  cleaning  and  disinfecting 
was  ordered  done  by  Dr.  Sternberg  before  the  troops  were 
allowed  to  return.  My  husband  exerted  every  means  to  trace 
the  source  of  this  infection  and  made  everything  a  matter  of 
record. 

I  had  spent  the  previous  summer  months  in  Florida  because 
the  breeze  was  fresh  and  cool,  and  the  early  morning  hours 
were  delightful.  But  I  had  promised  to  make  a  visit  to  my 
parents,  and  I  went  north  in  1874.  During  my  absence  there 
were  two  cases  of  yellow  fever  at  Barrancas.  The  first  intima- 
tion of  this  came  in  a  letter  from  my  husband  when  he  told  me 
that  he  had  been  to  the  Navy  Yard  in  consultation  and  that 
they  were  having  yellow  fever  there.  While  at  the  Navy 
Yard,  Dr.  Sternberg  was  asked  to  inspect  the  whole  command 
as  he  had  recently  had  experience  with  yellow  fever.  In  the 
hospital  he  found  a  number  of  pronounced  cases,  and  some  of 


34  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

the  officers  were  also  sick.  Dr.  Sternberg  visited  all  the 
patients  with  the  surgeon  of  the  yard,  and  was  emphatic  in 
regard  to  the  diagnosis  of  yellow  fever.  A  vessel  had  come 
in  a  short  time  before  from  the  Isthmus,  where  the  Chagres 
fever  was  then  prevailing.  The  doctors  who  had  seen  Chagres 
fever  (a  malignant  type  of  malarial  fever  occurring  along  the 
Chagres  River  in  South  America)  were  inclined  to  think  it 
was  that  disease,  but  Dr.  Sternberg's  previous  experience 
enabled  him  to  feel  certain  of  his  point. 

He  therefore  visited  the  admiral  commanding  the  Navy 
Yard  in  company  with  the  other  surgeon,  and  recommended 
that  all  well  people  should  be  taken  at  once  from  the  infected 
yard  to  a  spot  free  from  the  infection.  The  admiral  was  a 
charming  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  but  could  not  be  con- 
vinced that  the  situation  demanded  such  drastic  measures. 
After  a  long  consultation  in  which  my  husband  appealed  to 
him  in  every  way  he  could  to  give  the  order  at  once,  the 
Admiral  finally  said,  "I  can  not  give  such  an  order,  it  would 
seem  cowardly  on  my  part,  it  would  be  equivalent  to  deserting 
the  ship."  A  little  later  he  became  a  victim  of  the  disease  and 
passed  to  the  Great  Beyond.  The  surgeon  and  his  wife  died, 
leaving  orphan  children ;  the  paymaster  and  his  wife  recovered 
but  were  a  long  time  convalescing;  the  captain  of  the  yard  and 
his  wife  died  leaving  orphans,  and  many  enlisted  men  died  in 
the  hospital.  My  husband,  although  he  was  not  immune,  went 
to  the  assistance  of  the  suffering  and  freely  gave  advice  and 
medical  attention. 

After  the  frost  had  come,  he  invited  me  to  return.  Travel- 
ing in  the  South  at  that  time  was  full  of  disappointment,  as 
railroad  connections  were  uncertain,  and  Dr.  Sternberg  had  to 
make  three  trips  to  Pensacola  before  I  arrived.  I  was 
delighted  to  be  again  in  our  home.  The  bay  was  tranquil  and 
restful  to  look  on  and  it  seemed  hard  to  believe  that  it  was 
the  means  of  transporting  that  terrible  disease  of  yellow  fever 
to  so  many  innocent  victims.  "But  always  it  came  in  a  ship" ; 
at  least,  it  was  the  final  conclusion  of  every  board  of  investi- 
gation that  it  was  traced  to  passengers  from  a  recently  arrived 
ship.  Dr.  Sternberg's  report  says :  "after  a  careful  considera- 
tion of  the  facts  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  other  source 
of  infection  as  satisfactory  to  my  mind,  and  that  the  disease 


FORT    BARRANCAS  35 

did  not  originate  at  Barrancas  seems  almost  certain  for  the 
following  reason:  Yellow  fever  has  prevailed  at  Barrancas 
but  six  times  in  fifty- four  years.  Its  appearance  in  every 
instance  has  been  preceded  by  the  arrival  in  the  harbor  of  a 
vessel  from  an  infected  port."  Neither  Dr.  Sternberg  nor  I 
at  that  time  had  ever  had  yellow  fever  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
we  were  exposed  to  two  earlier  epidemics,  and  we  remained 
at  the  post  the  entire  time.  It  was  lonely  and  sad  because 
there  were  so  few  of  us  at  the  post.  But  professional  work 
and  writing  absorbed  my  husband's  entire  time. 

Dr.  Sternberg's  first  publications  of  scientific  value  were  pre- 
pared about  this  time,  and  related  to  the  modus  operandi  of 
the  yellow  fever  poison  x  and  a  study  of  the  natural  history 
of  yellow  fever.2  These  investigations  served  to  eliminate  at 
least  some  of  the  obscure  factors,  if  not  to  discover  the 
immediate  cause  of  the  disease,  and  gave  him  a  position  as 
an  authority  on  yellow  fever. 

A     PREHISTORIC     MOUND 

On  my  return  from  the  North  I  found  many  changes.  My 
close  friends  and  associates  in  the  Navy  Yard  had  suffered 
much.  Many  had  died,  others  had  gone  north  to  recuperate. 
The  strenuous  work  and  close  confinement  to  his  professional 
duties  had  been  trying  for  Dr.  Sternberg.  Now  that  the  strain 
was  over,  I  thought  to  relieve  the  tension  by  driving  into  the 
country. 

While  in  Warrington  one  morning,  my  husband  met  by 
chance  the  captain  of  a  little  sloop,  who  was  telling  a  group 
of  men  some  facts  relating  to  an  extensive  "shell  heap,"  quite 
near  his  home  on  the  bay.  Dr.  Sternberg  had  always  been 
interested  in  anything  that  would  reveal  facts  relating  to  pre- 
historic man,  and  he  therefore  decided  to  make  a  trip  to  this 
interesting  spot.  The  day  fixed  on  was  fine  and  the  sail  up 
the  bay  was  delightful.  On  arriving  the  party  found  the  shell 
heaps  much  larger  and  more  extensive  than  had  been  expected. 
Their  size  and  extent  were  considered  proof  that  great  num- 
bers of  Indians  had  at  some  remote  period  frequented  this 
spot  to  enjoy  oysters  and  seafood.    There  were  evidences  that 


1.  New  Orleans  M.  &  S.  J.  (N.  S.)  3:1-23,  1875. 

2.  New  Orleans  M.  &.  S.  J.  (N.  S.)  4:638-674,  1877. 


36  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

white  people  had  visited  the  place  before,  as  shown  by  sev- 
eral spots  where  attempts  had  been  made  to  explore  by  dig- 
ging. Dr.  Sternberg  instructed  his  party  to  be  very  careful 
in  excavating  in  order  not  to  break  or  lose  anything  left  behind 
by  the  people  who  had  made  this  wonderful  shell  heap.  Some 
arrow  points  and  some  tools  made  from  bone  and  conch  shell 
were  taken  out.  One  particular  tool  made  of  fine  thick  conch 
shell  created  quite  an  interest.  As  Dr.  Sternberg  had  seen  a 
similar  instrument  of  iron  in  use  by  the  Indians  on  the  plains 
for  rubbing  down  and  softening  pelts,  he  felt  convinced  that 
this  specimen  had  been  designed  for  the  same  purpose.  None 
of  the  material  was  of  a  very  remote  period  nor  did  it  differ 
much  from  things  found  elsewhere  under  like  surroundings. 

On  another  drive  we  learned  from  the  country  people  of  an 
Indian  burial  mound,  though  it  was  not  until  later  that  we 
gained  information  regarding  its  exact  location.  A  day  hav- 
ing been  fixed  for  the  expedition,  the  commanding  officer 
assigned  us  a  large  wagon  and  team  with  two  men.  We  took 
camp  equipage,  supplies,  cooking  outfit,  with  everything  neces- 
sary for  comfort  and  we  drove  in  our  light  buggy.  The  road 
led  through  the  pine  forests,  where  the  grass  and  the  roots  cf 
the  pine  trees  impeded  our  progress  and  obliged  us  to  pro- 
ceed quite  slowly.  We  reached  our  camping  place  about  4 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  made  friends  with  the  people  who 
owned  the  mound,  asked  permission  to  camp  and  to  explore, 
and  engaged  the  owner  to  assist.  This  man  was  very  hos- 
pitable and  seemed  really  glad  to  see  us,  but  we  did  not  meet 
a  woman  although  we  could  hear  the  voice  of  one  in  the  rear 
room  of  a  very  old  and  small  house.  Our  men  soon  had  the 
tents  up  and  the  camp  in  order,  and  a  little  cabin  nearby  accom- 
modated the  iron  bedsteads  and  our  personal  camping  outfit. 
After  supper  we  strolled  about  to  inspect  the  mound  which 
was  not  far  from  Perdido  Bay  at  a  place  known  as  Bear 
Point.  There  were  a  number  of  trees  on  the  mound  over- 
towered  by  a  very  large  live  oak,  which  men  of  the  locality 
estimated  was  at  least  100  years  old. 

In  the  morning,  Dr.  Sternberg  decided  to  cut  a  trench 
through  the  center  of  the  mound.  He  superintended  the  work 
of  two  of  the  men  while  I  watched  the  other.  As  soon  as  the 
digging   utensil    struck  anything   other   than    sand,   the   work 


FORT    BARRANCAS  37 

ceased  and  a  careful  lifting  of  the  sand  by  Dr.  Sternberg 
would  bring  to  light  whatever  substance  had  been  struck.  We 
soon  found  fragments  of  pots,  and  a  little  deeper  we  unearthed 
numerous  pots  of  all  sizes  and  colors;  these  were  so  saturated 
with  moisture  that  it  required  the  greatest  care  and  skill  to 
remove  them  intact.  A  number  of  these  were  placed  carefully 
in  the  wind  and  sun  where  they  were  soon  dried  and  hardened. 
Our  main  interest  centered  on  a  nest  of  smaller  pots.  They 
were  beautifully  made  and  decorated,  closely  resembling  speci- 
mens exhibited  in  museums  as  pottery  from  Peru.  In  one  we 
found  a  beautiful  blue  bead,  in  another  a  perforated  disk  made 
from  a  shell  about  the  size  of  a  25-cent  piece.  We  unearthed 
a  great  number  of  stone  disks  of  all  sizes,  suggesting  no  use- 
ful purpose  other  than  some  game,  like  quoits.  One,  in  par- 
ticular, we  studied  for  some  time  and  have  since  looked  for 
its  mate  in  museums,  but  without  success.  This  disk,  eleven 
inches  in  circumference,  was  evidently  fashioned  of  beautiful 
chalcedony.  It  must  have  been  traded  from  some  Northern 
tribe,  as  no  such  stone  ever  existed  in  Florida.  As  it  was 
highly  polished,  Dr.  Sternberg  thought  that  it  might  have  been 
used  in  a  national  game.  Another  interesting  little  disk  was 
made  of  lead,  very  skillfully  inlayed,  with  a  round  centerpiece 
of  copper.  Detached  parts  of  human  skeletons  were  found; 
these  were  removed  with  the  greatest  care  and  were  sent  to 
the  Army  Medical  Museum  for  study  and  comparison.  There 
were  innumerable  pieces  of  clay  figures,  a  fox's  head,  a  squir- 
rel's head  (the  latter  had  a  little  bit  of  clay  within,  as  if  it 
might  have  served  as  a  child's  rattle).  There  was  a  very  good 
representation  of  a  duck's  head  and  bill.  We  also  found  quite 
by  itself  a  small  reproduction  of  a  woman's  head,  with  a  slight 
suggestion  of  Egyptian,  even  to  the  cast  of  countenance.  A 
long  and  faithful  search  for  some  article  associated  with  this 
particular  piece,  proved  unproductive. 

Only  two  items  of  the  collection  helped  to  fix  the  date  of 
this  particular  mound.  In  one  of  the  small  pots  we  found  a 
blue  bead;  in  another  a  large  nail,  badly  eaten  by  rust.  Dr. 
Sternberg  was  convinced  that  the  Indians  had  acquired  this 
nail  after  the  Spaniards  had  discovered  our  continent,  and 
that  it  probably  came  from  timber  of  a  wrecked  vessel.  We 
sent  a  fine  collection  of  the  large  pots  to  a  state  museum,  but 


38  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

notwithstanding  careful  packing,  many  of  them  were  broken 
in  transit.  Dr.  Sternberg  reported  his  findings  before  the 
.American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  at 
Salem,  Mass.,  in  1879. 

ATTACK  OF  YELLOW  FEVER 

In  June,  1875,  the  ship  Von  Moltke,  from  Havana,  arrived 
in  Pensacola  harbor  with  cases  of  yellow  fever  on  board.  She 
anchored  opposite  Fort  Barrancas  over  night  before  going  to 
the  quarantine  station  (Pensacola)  next  morning,  and  no  com- 
munication was  permitted  with  the  shore.  We  had  a  strict 
quarantine  and  the  captain  made  affidavit  that  no  one  had  left 
the  ship.  The  result  was  perfectly  successful  as  far  as  Pensa- 
cola and  the  Navy  Yard  were  concerned.  Three  weeks  later, 
however,  yellow  fever  again  made  its  appearance  at  Fort 
Barrancas,  a  number  of  cases  occurring  almost  simultaneously 
in  three  different  localities ;  in  the  company  barracks,  in  the 
laundresses'  quarters  and  in  the  officers'  quarters.  A  severe 
epidemic  appeared  imminent.  Dr.  Sternberg  had  given  me 
intimation  of  his  anxiety,  and  said  he  would  report  conditions 
at  once  to  the  commanding  officer  and  ask  to  have  the  troops 
sent  to  Fort  Pickens,  across  the  bay.  The  order  was  given 
and  my  husband  returned  home  and  said  to  me  "My  dear,  I 
think  you  will  have  to  go  away  from  the  post."  I  demurred 
on  the  plea  that  I  had  never  left  him  alone  and  that  he  would 
need  me  then  more  than  ever.  He  replied,  "There  are  several 
reasons  why  you  should  go.  I  want  the  garrison  to  feel  that 
my  entire  time  is  at  their  disposal,  for  undoubtedly  we  are 
to  have  an  extensive  epidemic." 

While  we  were  discussing  the  matter  an  order  from  the 
commanding  officer  requested  Dr.  Sternberg  to  advise  in 
regard  to  a  young  lady  who  was  visiting  the  officer's  wife  and 
would  be  quarantined.  She  was  a  Southern  girl  who  had 
never  been  exposed  to  yellow  fever,  and  was  badly  frightened. 
The  commanding  officer  suggested  that  I  take  the  young  lady 
with  me.  My  husband  came  home  and  said  I  must  decide  at 
once  to  go  from  the  post.  "You  cannot  go  north,  and  I  am  not 
willing  you  should  go  far  from  me.  If  you  are  taken  ill  I 
will  come  to  you ;  you  are  expected  to  take  this  young  lady 
with  you."  Everything  was  quickly  arranged;  a  government 
wagon  was  given  us  and  a  captain  who  had  suffered  from 


FORT    BARRANCAS  39 

yellow  fever  in  Mexico  was  to  take  charge  and  get  us  located. 
I  took  our  man  and  our  pony,  and  in  the  wagon  were  tents, 
camp  equipage  and  a  month's  supply  of  provisions.  My  hus- 
band said  in  his  last  farewell,  "Don't  put  any  water  between 
us." 

After  we  were  well  on  the  road,  the  officer  went  into  every 
house  to  ask  them  to  take  us  in,  telling  them  we  were  leaving 
home  on  account  of  yellow  fever.  No  one  wanted  us.  We 
had  gone  ten  miles  and  night  was  coming  on,  when  a  woman 
finally  consented  to  take  us  in.  "Come  in,"  she  said,  "I  have 
daughters  of  my  own  and  I  cannot  send  you  away.  We  are 
poor  at  present;  we  have  nothing  to  offer  except  the  roof  to 
shelter  you."  I  thanked  her  cordially  and  told  her  we  had 
supplies  to  subsist  on  for  quite  a  while  and  I  begged  her  to 
take  charge  of  everything  that  we  had  brought  with  us.  In 
less  than  twenty-four  hours  these  people  were  quarantined  by 
a  guard  from  Pensacola,  a  small  city  twenty-five  miles  away. 
These  men  with  guns  paraded  around  the  place  and  would  not 
allow  either  the  owner  or  his  sons  to  go  to  town  for  supplies. 

Before  leaving  Barrancas  an  arrangement  was  made  for  me 
to  hear  from  home  and  when  our  stopping  place  was  known 
a  box  was  placed  on  a  tree  about  half  the  distance  from  the 
fort.  On  the  first  two  days  my  servant  brought  a  letter  from 
my  husband.  On  the  third  day  a  guard  challenged  him;  he 
had  orders  not  to  let  the  man  from  home  have  any  communi- 
cation with  others,  and  on  that  day  I  received  no  letter.  In  his 
last  letter  my  husband  had  told  me  that  no  professional  help 
had  yet  reached  him,  and  he  was  almost  exhausted  from  the 
demands  made  on  him.  He  said,  "Don't  worry  if  you  do 
not  get  a  letter  in  a  day  or  two."  This  was  reasonable,  and  I 
counted  the  hours  until  I  would  hear  again.  The  fourth 
day  my  orderly  brought  a  letter  addressed  in  another's 
handwriting. 

I  knew  intuitively  that  my  husband  was  ill.  The  letter  was 
from  the  commanding  officer,  and  it  confirmed  my  forebodings. 
The  Surgeon-General  had  telegraphed  from  Washington  to  do 
everything  that  money  and  friends  could  to  carry  Dr.  Stern- 
berg through.  A  surgeon  from  Pensacola  had  taken  charge  of 
him,  and  two  surgeons  had  arrived  from  New  Orleans  to 
attend  to  the  other  sick.     But  the  main  object  in  writing  was 


40  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

to  tell  me  not  to  try  to  come  home,  as  an  order  had  been  given 
that  no  sentry  was  to  let  me  pass. 

My  poor  husband  was  extremely  ill  from  the  beginning  and 
his  overtaxed  condition  made  it  a  terrible  struggle.  He  suf- 
fered from  all  the  bad  symptoms  of  a  horrible  disease.  I  knew 
he  should  be  convalescing  in  eight  days,  but  I  received  no 
encouraging  news.  Finally,  I  could  stand  the  strain  no  lon- 
ger. After  three  weeks  of  mental  torture,  I  wrote  to  the  com- 
manding officer,  "Please  tell  me  the  worst,  it  cannot  be  worse 
than  the  agony  I  am  suffering  at  present.  I  know  he  should 
be  convalescing,  and  if  you  do  not  tell  me  all  I  shall  immed- 
iately come  home."  He  wrote  me  a  long  letter  telling  me  that 
my  husband  had  almost  every  possible  complication  and  was 
still  suffering  great  pain  from  a  septic  infection ;  that  he  had 
been  near  death  from  exhaustion,  but  they  were  hopeful ;  he 
would  pull  through,  I  was  to  stay  where  I  was. 

Meanwhile  the  domestic  life  in  our  refuge  home  was  not 
very  satisfactory.  The  young  lady  who  had  joined  me  was 
anxious  to  get  to  Georgia.  She  confided  to  me  one  day  that 
she  "ran  before  Sherman  in  his  march  through  Georgia,  but 
her  present  situation  was  a  great  deal  worse."  A  country 
quarantine  is  very  annoying,  and  I  was  relieved  for  her  sake 
when  at  the  expiration  of  two  weeks  she  arranged  through 
influential  friends  to  get  away.  My  letters  from  home  were 
now  becoming  more  cheerful  and  the  world  seemed  brighter. 

After  a  month  at  this  refuge  a  message  came  instructing  me 
to  go  without  delay  to  Pensacola,  to  take  the  train  north  the 
following  night,  that  my  husband  was  improving  and  would 
meet  me  as  soon  as  he  was  able  to  travel.  My  pain  at  parting 
with  these  good  people  was  quite  sincere,  for  the  dear  little 
mother  had  comforted  me  in  my  troubles  even  as  my  own 
mother  would  have  done.  The  road  was  rough  and  we  could 
not  travel  fast  but  with  twenty-five  miles  to  make  we  did  the 
best  we  could.  A  severe  storm  forced  us  to  seek  shelter  in  a 
logger's  camp,  and  delayed  progress  for  considerable  time. 
After  the  rain  abated,  and  we  were  again  under  way,  we  met 
a  man  on  horseback.  He  drew  rein  and  inquired  "Is  this  Mrs. 
Sternberg?"  I  said,  "Oh,  please  don't  tell  me  any  bad  news." 
He  said,  "No.  I  have  come  from  Mrs.  Herron  to  meet  you. 
(Dr.  Herron  had  been  taking  special  care  of  my  husband  dur- 


FORT    BARRANCAS  41 

ing  his  entire  illness.)  Mrs.  Herron  has  seen  the  Mayor  of 
Pensacola  and  you  have  permission  to  stop  and  take  a  cup  of 
tea  with  her."  My  original  instructions  had  been  to  proceed 
at  once  to  the  railroad  station.  It  was  quite  dark  when  we 
arrived  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  Herron.  The  door  flew  open  and 
a  little  lady  whom  I  had  never  seen  came  quickly  down  the 
steps  to  meet  me.  She  clasped  me  in  her  arms  and  said  "My 
darling  child,  the  news  today  is  good  from  your  husband  and 
my  son  tells  me  he  will  recover  and  meet  you  in  the  North." 
My  husband  had  sent  money  to  Mrs.  Herron  and  she  had 
made  all  the  arrangements  for  my  comfort  on  the  trip.  The 
one  thought  that  would  not  be  banished  was  that  I  was  leav- 
ing my  dear  one  still  fighting  bravely  and  desperately  for  life, 
and  I  hoped  and  prayed  he  would  be  victorious. 

My  trip  was  long  and  lonely  and  I  arrived  in  due  time  at 
my  father's  house  worn  and  weary.  Scarcely  had  I  rested 
from  my  great  strain,  when  I  received  a  telegram  from  my 
husband  to  meet  him  in  St.  Louis  at  a  fixed  date.  August  16, 
1875,  the  surgeon  at  Barrancas  had  sent  him  in  charge  of  a 
nurse  to  New  Orleans  and  thence  up  the  river  to  St.  Louis. 


CHAPTER     FIVE 
IN    EUROPE 

When  we  met  in  St.  Louis  my  husband  had  so  changed  that 
I  would  not  have  known  him  had  we  met  without  appointment. 
He  weighed  less  than  100  pounds  and  was  badly  discolored 
and  disfigured.  His  suffering  had  been  very  great  and 
I  afterward  learned  that  his  life  had  been  despaired  of  at 
many  stages  of  his  illness.  After  a  rest  of  several  weeks  we 
went  to  Washington,  where  Dr.  Sternberg  reported  to  General 
Crane,  Surgeon-General  of  the  U.  S.  Army.  General  Crane 
was  most  cordial  in  his  greeting,  congratulating  Dr.  Sternberg 
on  his  recovery.  "But,"  he  said  "you  are  in  no  condition  to  go 
on  duty;  take  a  leave  of  absence  and  go  to  Europe."  This 
being  agreeable  to  us,  General  Crane  suggested  we  could  go 
immediately  to  Southern  France  where  the  climate  would  be 
mild,  and  my  husband  could  there  recuperate  more  rapidly. 
Dr.  Sternberg  was  granted  a  leave  of  absence  for  six  months, 
November  9,  1875,  and  we  went  to  New  York  a  few  days  later 
to  make  our  arrangements  for  sailing.  We  had  no  difficulty  in 
securing  a  very  comfortable  stateroom  on  the  S.S.  City  of 
Chester,  Inman  Line. 

The  trip  over  was  pleasant  in  every  way ;  there  was  no  rough 
weather  and  we  had  very  agreeable  fellow  passengers.  On 
landing  we  went  immediately  to  London,  where  we  put  up  at 
a  quiet  little  hotel  near  the  Strand.  Our  time  was  spent  in 
strolls  on  the  Strand,  admiring  the  shop  windows,  and  in  tak- 
ing short  drives.  After  a  sufficient  time  spent  in  the  city  to 
enable  us  to  forget  entirely  our  recent  sea  voyage  we  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Continent.  A  stormy  crossing  of  the  Channel 
made  it  advisable  to  take  a  rest  in  Paris,  where  a  short  sojourn 
so  restored  us  that  we  were  able  to  resume  our  original  pro- 
gram to  go  to  Nice. 

In  Nice  we  were  fortunate  in  the  selection  of  our  hotel,  the 
Hotel  des  Anglais  on  the  Promenade  des  Anglais,  near  the 
center  of  social  activity.  On  the  morning  following  our 
arrival,  we  were  delightfully  surprised  by  a  visit  from  a  very 
dear  friend.  She  was  the  wife  of  an  officer  of  our  Navy  who 
had  served  at  the  Pensacola  Navy  Yard,  where  Dr.  Sternberg 
had  known  the  family  quite  intimately,  and  she  now  proposed 


IN    EUROPE  43 

that  we  visit  them  at  a  large  villa  which  they  had  taken.  We 
appreciatively  demurred  on  the  ground  that  Dr.  Sternberg 
would  be  more  or  less  of  an  invalid  for  some  time.  "That  is 
one  more  reason  you  should  come  to  us,"  and  she  recalled  to 
our  memory  that  Dr.  Sternberg  had  been  very  kind  to  them 
in  severe  illness.  Her  mother  was  with  her  and  she  would  be 
delighted  to  see  both  of  us.  Someone  called  and  nothing  more 
was  said.  On  returning  the  visit  several  days  later,  we  were 
charmed  with  the  atmosphere  of  their  home.  We  found  the 
villa  delightful  and  my  friend  said,  "If  you  can  not  make  up 
your  minds  to  come  and  visit  us,  come  and  mess  with  us.  It 
will  give  us  all  much  pleasure  to  be  again  together."  This 
proposition  was  gladly  accepted  and  the  arrangement  proved 
ideal.  I  accompanied  my  hostess  to  social  functions,  and  Dr. 
Sternberg  had  charming  surroundings,  good  care  and  agree- 
able company. 

In  the  early  hours  of  the  afternoon,  my  husband  and  I  often 
walked  or  drove  on  the  Promenade  des  Anglais,  where  was  to 
be  seen  a  fine  moving  panorama.  The  great  expanse  of  beauti- 
ful water  on  one  side  of  the  drive  added  a  distinctive  charm  to 
the  picture.  One  could  meet  visitors  from  all  nations,  some 
driving  or  riding,  others  walking.  We  were  early  cautioned 
to  be  at  home  by  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  as  the  air  then 
reminds  one  that  the  snow  of  the  Alps  is  not  far  away.  Later 
during  our  stay,  when  Dr.  Sternberg's  health  improved,  we 
drove  to  many  interesting  places  in  the  immediate  vicinity, 
even  going  with  others  to  Monte  Carlo  to  attend  a  concert  in 
the  great  music  hall. 

On  Christmas  Eve  at  Nice,  Dr.  Sternberg  received  notice 
that  he  had  been  promoted  to  the  grade  of  Surgeon  with  the 
rank  of  Major.  While  this  was  cheering  news  it  awoke  anew 
the  recollection  of  an  act  of  injustice  to  three  medical  officers 
who  should  have  received  this  promotion  as  early  as  February, 
1869.  The  history  of  this  is  best  told  by  extracts  from  a 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  dated  February 
8,  1875,  to  whom  was  referred  the  petition  of  Charles  B. 
White,  George  M.  Sternberg  and  Joseph  Janvier  Woodward, 
Assistant  Surgeons,  U.  S.  Army,  asking  redress  for  griev- 
ances. The  committee  on  the  bill  (H.R.  3858)  to  authorize 
the  promotion  reported: 


44  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

That  on  inquiry  at  the  War  Department  they  find  the  facts 
with  regard  to  the  record  of  these  officers  to  be  substantially 
as  stated  in  their  petition.  It  appears  that  three  vacancies  in 
the  grade  of  Surgeon  in  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Army 
originated  on  the  22nd  of  February,  1869;  that  these  officers, 
all  of  whom  are  of  unblemished  record,  were  at  the  time 
entitled  to  be  promoted  to  these  vacancies  under  the  laws  and 
regulations  then  in  existence,  and  that  they  actually  were  on 
the  same  day,  viz.,  February  22,  1869,  nominated  by  the  Presi- 
dent to  the  Senate  for  said  promotion. — The  Senate  however 
failed  to  take  immediate  action  on  the  nominations,  and  while 
they  were  pending  the  Army  Appropriation  Bill  approved 
March  3,  1869,  became  a  law,  the  sixth  section  of  which  pro- 
hibited further  appointments  and  promotions  in  the  several 
staff-corps,  among  them  the  Medical  Corps,  until  further 
legislation. 

This  Bill  appears  to  have  been  construed  as  forbidding  the 
promotion  of  these  officers  although  they  had  been  nominated 
prior  to  its  passage,  for  no  further  action  was  taken  in  their 
case  at  that  time. 

Two  years  later,  and  near  the  close  of  a  session  of  Congress, 
viz.,  February  14,  1871,  the  President  again  nominated  these 
officers  for  the  same  promotion,  and  the  session  having  expired 
without  any  action  being  taken  upon  the  nomination,  he  for 
the  third  time  submitted  them  to  the  Senate  (in  extra  session) 
March  6,  1871.  It  appears  from  a  note  appended  by  the  Presi- 
dent to  these  nominations  of  February  14  and  March  6, 
1871,  which  note  is  a  matter  of  record  in  the  War  Depart- 
ment, and  an  official  copy  of  which  is  herewith  annexed 
(marked  "C")  that  the  President  in  nominating  these  officers 
for  promotion  the  second  and  third  time,  took  the  ground 
that,  as  they  had  become  entitled  thereto  prior  to  the  act  of 
March  3,  1869,  prohibiting  further  appointments  and  promo- 
tions in  the  staff  corps,  that  act  ought  not  to  bar  their  promo- 
tion and  he  says ;  "I  deem  it  an  act  of  justice  to  the  officers 
that  these  promotions  should  be  made  from  the  dates  they 
became  entitled  thereto." — The  Senate  nevertheless  took,  it 
appears,  no  action  on  the  nominations.  ...  In  view  of 
all  the  foregoing  facts  we  recommend  the  passage  of  the  bill 
(H.R.  3858)  to  authorize  the  promotion  of  these  officers. 

Notwithstanding  this  favorable  report  the  bill  failed  to  pass 
and  Dr.  Sternberg,  with  his  two  colleagues,  was  deprived  of 
the  promotion  to  which  he  was  justly  entitled  from  February 
22,  1869,  to  December  1,  1875.  He  lost  the  difference  of  pay 
between  the  grade  of  Captain  and  of  Major;  not  a  very  pleas- 


IN    EUROPE  45 

ant  contemplation  for  a  man  who  was  just  recovering  from 
an  attack  of  yellow  fever  contracted  in  line  of  duty. 

Dr.  Sternberg  grew  anxious  to  go  to  Italy  and  as  he  was  not 
yet  very  strong  we  decided  to  travel  slowly.  Our  first  stop 
was  to  be  Genoa,  which  at  that  date  was  the  chief  commercial 
city  in  Italy.  The  railroads  from  Nice  skirt  the  coast  and  the 
numerous  promontories  are  penetrated  by  tunnels,  some  of 
them  so  long  that  they  must  have  been  serious  problems  for 
the  engineers.  We  remained  in  Genoa  only  long  enough  for 
Dr.  Sternberg  to  recover  from  the  fatigue  of  the  railroad 
journey,  spending  our  days  in  drives  and  in  visits  to  points  of 
artistic  interest.  Our  visits  to  all  the  large  cities  in  Italy  were 
keenly  enjoyed  although  we  would  have  liked  more  time  for 
appreciation  of  natural  beauties.  At  first  we  exercised  great 
care  in  regard  to  the  time  we  should  give  to  visiting  picture 
galleries  for  fear  of  taxing  Dr.  Sternberg's  strength.  But  by 
living  much  in  the  open  and  in  the  sunlight,  he  gained  strength 
daily,  and  we  could  safely  spend  many  happy  hours  in  the  gal- 
leries. With  the  assistance  of  experienced  friends,  we  were 
able  to  enjoy  profitably  every  moment  of  our  stay  in  Florence, 
Venice,  Naples  and  Rome.  We  spent  more  time  in  the  last 
city  than  in  any  other,  for  reasons  that  are  obvious.  Our 
return  was  by  way  of  Paris  and  London. 

Having  turned  our  faces  homeward  it  is  not  surprising  that 
we  became  anxious  to  be  again  on  our  native  soil.  Despite 
pleasant  recollections  of  London  we  were  obliged  to  hasten  to 
Liverpool  to  take  the  steamer  for  New  York.  We  returned 
in  the  same  steamer  on  which  we  had  made  the  trip  East ; 
she  seemed  like  an  old  acquaintance  when  we  boarded  and 
there  were  many  familiar  faces.  Our  return  passage  was 
stormy  and  exciting.  After  we  had  weathered  the  storm  and 
all  were  feeling  almost  cheerful  again,  the  engines  suddenly 
stopped.  The  steamer  rolled  terribly,  as  will  any  vessel  in  a 
heavy  sea  without  steam  power  to  resist.  The  waves  broke 
upon  our  deck  and  washed  over  with  a  distressing  noise,  while 
passengers  grew  pale,  nervous  and  ill.  Everybody  was  curi- 
ous and  anxious,  but  no  one  seemed  to  know  the  cause  of  the 
hammering  and  pounding  and  delay.  When  finally  the  ship 
was  struggling  again  to  be  under  way,  we  were  rejoiced  and 
our  spirits  quickly  revived. 


CHAPTER    SIX 
IN    THE    DEPARTMENT    OF    COLUMBIA 

Relatives  met  us  in  New  York  on  our  arrival  the  latter  part 
of  April,  1876,  and  as  soon  as  our  baggage  was  procured  we 
were  on  our  way  to  Washington.  My  husband  reported  for 
duty  to  General  Crane,  and  was  given  a  choice  of  station  in 
the  Department  of  the  Dakotas  or  the  Department  of  Colum- 
bia. We  talked  the  matter  over  and  decided  we  preferred  the 
latter.  The  order  came  May  1,  1876  for  Dr.  Sternberg  to 
report  for  duty  at  Headquarters  of  the  Department  of 
Columbia,  Portland,  Oregon. 

Crossing  the  continent  by  rail  at  that  time  was  not  exactly 
?  great  pleasure  trip.  We  were  eight  days  and  nights  on  the 
road,  the  alkaline  dust  in  the  arid  region  penetrated  every 
crevice  until  the  atmosphere  in  the  car  was  at  times  almost 
stifling.  There  were  no  dining  cars,  the  train  stopped  at  inter- 
vals at  public  dining  rooms  close  by  the  station.  The  food 
was  greasy,  coarse,  and  badly  cooked.  The  only  pleasant 
memory  of  this  trip  is  the  sight  of  a  large  herd  of  buffalo,  of 
which  at  that  period  herds  of  considerable  size  roamed  the 
plains,  in  quest  of  better  grazing  lands  in  the  north.  Our 
route  was  by  way  of  San  Francisco,  where  we  took  ship  for 
Oregon.  The  San  Francisco  we  saw  at  that  time  has  been 
replaced  more  than  once  since ;  the  old  frame  houses  and  the 
wooden  pavements  have  several  times  given  place  to  more 
permanent  and  yet  more  substantial  improvements. 

As  we  steamed  out  of  the  great  harbor  of  San  Francisco,  we 
were  deeply  impressed  with  the  natural  charms  of  the  Bay. 
There  are  three  beautiful  islands,  on  each  of  which  our  Gov- 
ernment had  established  military  defenses  and  institutions  of 
national  importance.  The  wide  expanse  of  water,  the  majesty 
of  distant  mountains,  and  the  soft  haze  of  floating  clouds 
upon  a  background  of  green  and  golden  hills  of  the  distant 
landscape  form  an  inspiring  picture.  The  ship  was  old,  the 
sea  was  rough  and  many  of  the  passengers  were  soon  suffer- 
ing from  the  motion  of  the  waves.  We  plunged  along,  our 
thoughts  concentrated  on  the  greatest  interest  to  all  on  board, 
that  of  reaching:  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River.    The  recital 


DEPARTMENT    OF    COLUMBIA  47 

of  the  grandeur  and  beauty  of  that  stream  had  been  glowingly 
painted  by  some  of  our  fellow  passengers,  and  we  approached 
the  mouth  of  this  river  on  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day. 

Before  improvements  were  made  by  the  government  there 
were  three  channels  across  the  Columbia  bar,  varying  from 
nineteen  to  twenty-one  feet  in  depth,  unstable  and  uncertain  in 
regard  to  position.  The  passengers  who  knew  the  bar  related 
the  history  of  the  ships  that  had  been  lost  and  pointed  out  the 
very  spots  to  make  their  recital  more  realistic.  Theodore  Win- 
throp's  description  of  the  bar  is  a  vivid  representation  of  what 
we  found :  a  wall  of  terrible  breakers  marking  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia — Achilles  of  rivers.  When  the  word  was  finally 
passed  along  that  the  ship  was  over  the  bar,  we  took  interest 
in  the  river  and  the  adjoining  scenery.  The  first  landing  was 
at  Astoria,  110  miles  from  Portland,  where  the  Astors  had 
established  a  large  fur  trading  store.  In  1876,  the  year  of 
our  arrival,  the  great  industry  of  this  section  was  fishing  and 
canning  of  salmon.  Gazing  across  the  Bay  from  enterprising 
Astoria,  we  had  a  view  of  an  Army  station  known  as  Fort 
Canby;  Cape  Disappointment  and  Fort  Stevens,  places  of 
military  importance,  are  also  nearby.  Further  up  the  river, 
there  are  magnificent  scenes,  such  as  perpendicular  basaltic 
bluffs,  side  hill  farms  and  fishing  scenes.  Suddenly,  Mount  St. 
Helen's  appears — the  "Queen  of  the  Cascades,"  her  summit 
draped  with  a  robe  of  pure  white  snow.  On  a  clear  day  with 
favorable  atmospheric  conditions  one  may  enjoy  a  wonderful 
sight  from  the  junction  of  the  Willamette  and  Columbia  Rivers, 
quite  near  Portland.  In  the  distance,  four  snow  capped  peaks 
are  seen,  Mount  St.  Helen's,  Mount  Jefferson,  Mount  Hood 
and  Mount  Rainier. 

PORTLAND,     OREGON 

We  early  learned  that  Dr.  Sternberg  was  to  act  as  medical 
director  of  the  Department  of  the  Columbia  during  the  absence 
of  the  incumbent,  and  this  duty  kept  us  in  Portland  from  June 
9,  to  September  1,  1876.  Through  the  advice  of  friends  we 
arranged  for  lodgings  with  a  charming  hostess  and  we  enjoyed 
life  in  her  home  as  if  in  our  own.  The  residence  was  situated 
on  quite  an  elevation  and  my  windows  looked  on  a  magnificent 
view.  Immediately  in  front  of  us,  no  great  distance  away, 
Mount  Hood  towered  high,  11,225  feet  above  sea  level.  Shortly 


48  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

after  our  arrival  in  Portland  there  occurred  an  alarming  flood, 
which  covered  to  an  uncomfortable  depth  all  the  city  situated 
on  the  lower  level.  This  was  phenomenal  and  the  result  of  an 
abnormal  amount  of  water  from  the  melting  snow.  The  splen- 
dor of  the  rose  gardens  in  Portland  cannot  be  exaggerated ; 
nowhere  have  I  seen  more  luxuriant  and  gorgeous  blooms.  The 
beauty  of  young  women  finds  here  an  appropriate  setting  and 
I  can  add  my  testimony  to  that  of  others  that  nowhere  in 
America  does  one  see  complexions  to  rival  those  of  the  girls  in 
and  about  Portland.  The  equable  damp  climate,  no  doubt, 
leaves  its  mark  in  beautiful  color  on  the  rose  and  on  the  cheeks 
of  the  young  women. 

FORT     WALLA     WALLA 

On  the  return  of  the  medical  director,  Dr.  Sternberg  was 
relieved  from  this  duty.  His  official  and  professional  work  had 
proved  very  interesting  for  he  had  been  often  solicited  to  serve 
as  consulting  physician  in  obscure  and  serious  cases  of  illness 
by  resident  physicians.  The  medical  director  gave  him  a  choice 
of  a  new  station,  naming  Fort  Vancouver  in  Oregon,  or  Fort 
Walla  Walla  in  Washington.  He  chose  the  latter,  because  of 
climatic  preference  and  of  prospects  for  remaining  longer  with- 
out change. 

Immediately  on  our  arrival  at  Walla  Walla  in  August,  1876, 
Dr.  Sternberg  reported  for  duty  and  asked  to  be  authorized 
to  remain  for  a  time  at  the  hotel.  The  pretty  little  town  is 
situated  in  a  wide  valley  in  an  ideal  setting.  The  early  settlers 
had  planted  rows  of  French  poplars,  so  frequently  seen  border- 
ing European  country  roads.  Here,  they  bordered  the  irriga- 
tion ditches.  When  our  furniture  arrived  we  took  quarters  at 
the  garrison,  secured  a  Chinese  cook  and  were  soon  established 
in  our  new  home.  The  house  was  heated  by  large  open  fire- 
places, which  gave  comfort  and  greeted  with  cheer  all  who 
■entered. 

The  post  hospital  was  some  distance  from  the  house,  in  a 
wooden  building  of  ample  size,  but  of  primitive  construction. 
Every  morning  at  8  o'clock  the  bugler  blew  "sick  call"  and 
the  post  surgeon  proceeded  to  the  hospital  to  examine  and  treat 
the  men  who  had  been  reported  sick.  Shortly  after  our  arrival 
we  purchased  from  an  officer,  who  had  received  orders  to 
repair  to  another  station,  a  blooded  bay  mare  and  a  light  buggy. 


DEPARTMENT    OF    COLUMBIA  49 

These  afforded  the  means  for  many  interesting  drives  in  the 
valley  and  over  the  surrounding  mountains.  We  remained 
three  years  at  Walla  Walla  and  each  year  the  great  wheat  fields 
extended  higher  and  higher  up  the  foot  hills.  In  the  early 
morning  hours  the  mountains  presented  a  charming  view;  a 
soft  white  cloud  of  moisture  floated  like  a  billowy  scarf  of  tulle 
half  way  up  the  hills,  which  were  draped  by  the  dark  green 
of  pines  above  and  the  fields  of  light  green  below;  over  all 
spread  a  clear  blue  sky. 

In  the  course  of  attending  to  his  consulting  practice  in  the 
town,  Dr.  Sternberg  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  lady  who  con- 
tributed much  to  our  intellectual  progress  and  pleasure.  Dur- 
ing professional  visits  to  her  son,  Dr.  Sternberg  noted  that  she 
had  an  excellent  library,  and  that  she  was  a  woman  of  educa- 
tion. It  developed  later  that  she  had  been  educated  as  a 
teacher  in  France  (her  native  land),  and  was  at  that  time 
teaching  her  own  children  Greek,  Latin,  German  and  French. 
Later  Dr.  Sternberg  suggested  it  would  help  to  pass  my  time 
profitably  and  pleasantly  if  I  should  have  lessons  in  French 
from  her.  At  my  request,  Dr.  Sternberg  consented  to  join  me 
in  the  lessons  and  we  found  the  lady  an  ideal  teacher.  She 
never  wearied  in  training  us  to  master  the  nasal  accent,  and  in 
the  three  years  of  our  studies  covered  a  wide  range  of  French 
literature.  Dr.  Sternberg  mastered  every  difficulty  of  the  lan- 
guage, and  could  later  deliver  lectures  in  French.  When  in 
Europe,  he  was  complimented  on  his  excellent  accent. 

FOSSIL     REMAINS 

Intercourse  with  civilians  in  the  town  led  to  friendship  with 
a  civil  engineer  who  possessed  a  liberal  education  and  a  fond- 
neess  for  scientific  discussion.  Dr.  Sternberg  spoke  to  him  of 
the  wonderful  fossils  he  had  discovered  in  the  chalk  beds  in 
Western  Kansas  during  his  year  in  the  field  with  General 
Sheridan  after  the  Cheyennes.  This  caused  the  civil  engineer 
to  produce  some  interesting  specimens  and  to  give  details  in 
regard  to  a  section  of  the  Northwest  which  he  had  surveyed. 
Dr.  Sternberg  became  much  interested  and  most  anxious  to 
explore  this  field. 

The  commanding  officer  interposed  no  objection  to  his  going 
with  the  next  lot  of  recruits  to  Fort  Colville.     Arrangements 


50  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

were  made  with  a  physician  in  the  town  to  attend  to  the  post 
duties,  the  quartermaster  loaned  us  tents,  a  wagon,  horses, 
men,  in  fact  everything  was  done  to  make  us  comfortable  on 
the  trip.  The  first  day's  march  was  not  long,  and  proved  a 
glorious  experience.  We  camped  near  a  little  brook.  Fires 
were  soon  lighted  and  supper  under  way,  some  of  the  men 
pitched  tents,  ours  a  large  one  with  iron  beds  and  two  chairs. 
After  supper,  some  fished  for  trout  in  the  little  stream,  while 
we  went  for  a  short  walk  and  to  watch  the  afterglow  of  a 
beautiful  sunset. 

Very  early  in  the  morning  the  bugle  aroused  us  and  we  were 
soon  on  the  way,  ending  our  march  by  three  in  the  afternoon. 
All  looked  forward  to  the  night  we  were  to  camp  on  the  banks 
of  the  Snake  River,  one  of  the  important  tributaries  of  the 
Columbia  River.  No  sooner  had  we  begun  to  make  our  camp 
here  than  a  white  man  and  two  boys  came  to  learn  where  we 
were  going.  The  man  proved  to  be  the  owner  of  the  ferry,  he 
remained  but  a  short  time  and  volunteered  to  assist  us  in  any 
way  he  could.  The  boys  came  again  and  brought  me  some 
arrow  heads,  with  a  message  from  their  mother,  who  would  be 
pleased  to  come  and  see  me  if  I  desired.  I  walked  home  with 
the  boys  to  invite  her  to  visit  me  at  the  camp.  Their  home, 
a  little  wooden  house,  was  situated  high  on  the  banks  of  the 
river,  for  this  river  at  times  has  a  tremendous  overflow  and 
is  always  a  deep  swift  stream.  There  was  an  air  of  peace  and 
happiness  about  the  house,  with  flower  boxes  on  the  porch,  and 
other  evidences  of  a  woman's  hand  and  influence.  She  was 
from  New  England  and  had  been  living  in  this  lonely  spot  for  a 
number  of  years,  with  infrequent  opportunity  of  seeing  a  white 
lady.  When  the  boys  told  her  there  was  a  little  blonde  lady  in 
the  camp,  she  thought  this  woman  might  possibly  be  from  the 
East  and  she  wanted  to  meet  me. 

Soon  after  our  arrival  we  were  made  aware  of  the  presence 
of  a  band  of  Indians  on  the  opposite  bluff  of  the  river:  the 
beating  of  the  "tomtoms"  made  a  great  and  almost  constant 
noise  to  which  the  shouting  of  the  men  added  a  touch  of  savage 
ceremony.  We  could  distinguish  numbers  of  them  from  time 
to  time  plunging  into  the  river  and  swimming  about.  As  soon 
as  our  tents  were  up  and  our  lighted  fires  were  sending  up  a 
smoke,  boats  put  out  for  our  shore.     They  pulled  so  swiftly 


DEPARTMENT    OF    COLUMBIA  51 

that  the  boats  literally  shot  through  the  water,  and  soon  landed 
near  our  camp.  Majestically  the  chief  and  his  interpreter  came 
up  to  the  bank  of  the  river  to  interview  the  "Medicine  Man." 
(They  had  learned  through  the  soldiers  that  Dr.  Sternberg  was 
in  charge  of  our  expedition  and  that  he  was  a  physician.)  The 
chief  did  not  seem  pleased  to  see  us  and  questioned  closely 
through  his  interpreter  in  regard  to  the  number  of  recruits  and 
where  they  were  going,  also  what  our  own  destination  was.  He 
talked  for  a  long  time ;  finally  he  told  us  he  had  a  sick  daughter 
that  had  been  coughing  for  "two  snows,"  and  asked  for  medi- 
cine to  relieve  her.  Dr.  Sternberg  knew  from  past  experience 
that  tuberculosis  is  the  greatest  foe  of  the  modern  Indian. 
Having  medicine  with  us,  he  prepared  a  cough  mixture  and 
gave  it  to  the  chief.  Then  the  chief  informed  us  he  had  no 
coffee,  this  was  given  him;  no  sugar,  again  his  want  was  sup- 
plied. When  all  his  requests  had  been  complied  with,  he  sat 
silent  for  some  time  before  taking  his  departure.  Quite  early 
the  following  morning  we  broke  camp,  parting  company  with 
the  large  number  of  soldiers  who  were  going  north  from  this 
river  crossing;  four  or  five  enlisted  men  remained  with  us. 

The  ferry  was  known  as  a  "current  ferry."  The  big  boat 
was  taken  over  by  cables  and  the  whole  movement  was  con- 
trolled by  the  current  of  the  river.  The  Snake  River  is  very 
deep  and  swift,  and  I  noticed  that  the  men  were  more  or  less 
excited  over  making  a  successful  crossing.  But  all  went  well. 
We  landed  and  drove  slowly  up  a  steep  roadway  leading  to  the 
level,  and  turned  the  horses'  heads  down  the  "Coulee"  on  our 
way  to  Washtuckna  Lake,  the  fossil  field.  We  were  to  camp 
for  the  night  on  the  banks  of  a  large  lake,  and  to  proceed  to  the 
fossil  regions  early  the  next  morning.  This  lake  proved  an 
extensive  sheet  of  water,  and  we  could  see  wild  geese  and  ducks 
flying  in  great  numbers  over  our  heads.  As  soon  as  the  tents 
were  pitched,  the  fires  built,  and  the  mules  and  horses  picketed, 
the  sportsmen  were  off  for  the  lake.  From  patches  of  bushes 
which  were  used  as  blinds,  shots  reverberated  every  few 
minutes  ;  from  their  number  I  felt  sure  we  would  never  be  able 
to  take  the  game  home  with  us.  Only  approaching  darkness 
brought  the  party  back ;  they  had  captured  no  ducks  or  geese, 
because  they  had  not  been  instructed  how  to  fire,  and  had  fired 


52  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

into  the  breast  of  the  bird  instead  of  waiting  until  the  bird  was 
flying  away. 

While  the  soldiers  were  sitting  by  the  camp  fire  later  in  the 
evening,  a  lone  horseman  rode  up  and  asked  to  be  permitted  to 
camp  near.  He  told  the  men  the  northern  Indians  were  roam- 
ing in  small  bands  everywhere,  and  some  of  them  were  very 
ugly  and  insulting,  and  as  he  was  a  lone  herdsman  with  a  lot 
of  cattle  he  feared  to  be  on  the  hills  alone  at  night.  Sentries 
were  ordered  to  keep  a  very  close  watch  over  the  mules  and 
horses  that  night  for  fear  that  they  might  be  stampeded  by  the 
Indians,  and  we  be  left  at  their  mercy  without  transportation. 
All  night  the  coyotes  howled  and  barked  constantly  just  out- 
side the  tent.  It  was  not  necessary  to  call  anyone  in  the  morn- 
ing for  none  of  us  had  slept  very  much.  After  a  hot  break- 
fast we  were  soon  off  for  the  fossil  field,  some  11  miles  distant 
over  hills,  and  arrived  about  noon  on  the  brink  of  the  lake 
basin.  As  it  was  not  very  safe  to  be  so  far  from  civilization 
when  the  Indians  were  excited  and  roaming  about,  Dr.  Stern- 
berg hastened  the  exploration  in  as  thorough  and  satisfactory 
a  manner  as  possible.  No  explorer  had  previously  been  on  the 
field,  except  the  civil  engineer  who  had  hastily  surveyed  it. 

We  found  large  numbers  of  clean  specimens,  representing 
the  horse,  the  elephant,  the  camel,  the  elk  and  the  deer.  I  had 
the  good  fortune  to  find  some  large  teeth,  collecting  so  many 
that  my  basket  would  not  hold  them.  What  changes  in  nature 
must  have  taken  place  since  these  animals  were  natives  of  this 
zone,  doubtless  coming  to  this  lake  to  drink.  The  wind  had 
whipped  the  sand  away  and  the  fossils  had  dropped  lower  and 
lower,  maintaining  the  same  relative  positions  occupied  in  life. 
We  carried  away  with  us  a  great  quantity  of  interesting  relics. 
In  time  Dr.  Sternberg  sent  specimens  to  Professor  Cope  of 
Philadelphia  and  other  scientists  for  description  and  classifica- 
tion. I  still  have  in  our  cabinet  some  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
perfect. 

It  had  been  promised  that  on  our  return  trip  we  would  visit 
the  beautiful  Shoshone  Falls,  a  little  higher  up  on  the  Snake 
River.  We  were  near  enough  at  one  time  to  hear  the  roar  of 
the  cataract,  but  Dr.  Sternberg  thought  that  the  information 
in  regard  to  the  Indians  made  it  unsafe  to  go  on  a  pleasure 
jaunt. 


CHAPTER     SEVEN 
THE    NEZ    PERCES     CAMPAIGN 

There  was  intense  anxiety  at  that  time  because  of  unrest 
among  the  Indians.  Several  tribes  were  roaming  over  the 
country,  the  Nez  Perces  among  them.  As  much  will  be  said 
about  these  Indians,  a  few  words  about  their  past  history  may 
not  seem  amiss.  It  is  related  that  the  pioneers  pushing  West 
after  reaching  what  is  today  known  as  the  Kamiah  Valley, 
found  a  large  body  of  Indians;  these  subsequently  became 
known  as  the  Nez  Perces.  They  appeared  to  be  honest,  intelli- 
gent and  attractive,  eager  to  assist  the  whites,  kind  and  helpful, 
although  shrewd  and  businesslike  in  their  trading.  The  pioneers 
left  their  horses  with  the  Nez  Perces  and  took  canoes  down  the 
river,  asking  the  Indians  to  meet  them  at  the  same  point  on 
their  return  the  following  spring.  With  scrupulous  fidelity  the 
Nez  Perces  carried  out  their  agreement;  an  evidence  of  the  oft 
repeated  assertion  that  treachery  was  acquired  by  the  Indian 
from  association  with  the  whites. 

From  a  bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology  the 
following  is  learned  of  the  Nez  Perces  in  1805.  They  occupied 
a  large  area  in  what  is  now  western  Idaho,  northeastern  Oregon 
and  southeastern  Washington  on  the  lower  Snake  River  and  its 
tributaries.  They  roamed  between  the  Blue  Mountains  in  Ore- 
gon and  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains  in  Idaho.  The  Nez  Perces 
held  the  Salmon  River  country  in  Idaho  in  1834  and  probably 
also  the  Grande  Ronde  Valley  in  eastern  Oregon.  A  large  part 
of  this  territory  was  ceded  to  the  United  States  by  treaty  in 
1855,  at  which  time  they  were  confined  to  a  reservation  includ- 
ing the  Wallowa  Valley  in  Idaho.  With  the  discovery  of  gold 
and  the  subsequent  influx  of  miners  and  other  settlers,  the  Ore- 
gon land  districts  were  in  demand,  and  a  new  treaty  was  made 
confining  the  tribe  to  the  reservation  at  Lapwai,  Idaho.  The 
Indian  occupants  of  the  Wallowa  Valley  refused  to  recognize 
this  treaty,  and  under  their  chief,  Joseph,  took  active  measures 
of  resistance. 

Though  at  first  Joseph's  band  of  Nez  Perces  opposed  the 
treaty,  they  finally  acquiesced  in  what  they  understood  con- 
tained the  stipulation  that  they  should  possess  the  Wallowa 


54  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

country  as  their  permanent  home.  The  Joseph  of  that  time  was 
later  succeeded  by  his  son  whose  Indian  name  was  "Halla 
Kalla  Keen,"  or  "Eagle's  Wing."  Writers  of  that  day  say  he 
was  the  finest  specimen  of  Redman  ever  seen  in  the  Columbia 
Valley.  Magnificent  in  stature  and  proportions,  his  rare  dig- 
nity and  nobility  of  bearing  and  qualities  of  mind  and  heart 
made  him  a  remarkable  chief.  Joseph  loved  the  Wallowa  Val- 
ley with  the  affection  of  a  youth  whose  associations  had  been 
connected  therewith,  and  at  first  made  every  effort  to  maintain 
the  good  will  of  his  white  neighbors,  but  when  the  Govern- 
ment violated  what  he  regarded  its  sacred  pledge,  and  permit- 
ted entrance  on  his  lands,  he  refused  to  abide  by  the  decision 
and  led  out  his  warriers  to  battle. 

General  Howard,1  in  his  account  of  the  beginning  of  this  war, 
states  that  the  Department  of  the  Interior  at  Washington  issued 
its  instructions  to  carry  out  the  recommendations  of  the 
November  commission  to  its  agent  at  Lapwai  early  in  January, 
1877.  Orders  were  sent  to  him  to  occupy  the  Wallowa  Valley, 
as  had  already  been  done  for  three  years  and  to  cooperate  with 
and  aid  the  Indian  agent.  Learning  General  Howard  was  at 
Umatilla,  Joseph  sent  word  that  he  wished  to  meet  him  for  a 
conference  at  Walla  Walla.  The  request  was  granted ;  Joseph 
did  not  come,  but  sent  his  brother  Ollicut  (Young  Joseph)  to 
represent  him.  Ollicut  put  in  an  appearance  at  Walla  Walla 
about  6  p.  m.  April  19,  1877;  with  him  were  several  other 
prominent  Indians,  among  them  an  old  medicine  man.  The 
Indians  came  into  the  Fort  by  the  west  gate  and  Ollicut  apolo- 
gized for  the  absence  of  Joseph  because  of  illness.  The  next 
day  was  fixed  on  for  the  conference  and  the  Indians  sought 
a  place  to  camp  for  the  night. 

The  council  opened  at  10  a.  m.  in  the  band  practice  room. 
The  Indians  sat  on  benches  on  one  side  of  a  large  table,  officers 
and  a  few  ladies  on  chairs,  and  some  citizens  on  benches.  I 
was  greatly  impressed  with  Ollicut.  He  was  over  6  feet  tall, 
well  formed,  with  small  shapely  hands  and  feet.  He  brought 
with  him  a  map  which  he  had  drawn,  a  talent  for  which  he  was 
reputed ;  it  was  made  in  color  on  the  fleshy  side  of  a  cow  skin. 
He  spoke  in  pathetic  manner  of  the  white  man's  injustice,  and 


1.  I    am    indebted   to    General    Howard's    report   for   many   of   the 
details  here  presented. 


NEZ    PERCES    CAMPAIGN  55 

of  the  misunderstanding  of  his  tribe,  and  made  an  effort  to 
explain  the  impossibility  of  giving  up  the  Wallowa  Valley  for 
the  Lapwai  reservation.  He  pointed  to  his  map  to  show  the 
difference  in  area  and  fertility  of  the  lands  proposed  as 
exchange ;  explaining  that  his  tribe's  industry  was  raising 
horses,  that  the  Lapwai  reservation  would  not  be  large  enough 
to  support  them  in  addition  to  those  already  there.  But  he 
could  see  that  he  was  not  convincing  his  hearers,  and  some  of 
the  others  not  so  diplomatic  grew  loud  and  boisterous.  The 
ladies  had  to  leave  the  court  room  and  were  not  permitted  to 
be  present  the  next  day. 

However,  the  Indians  left  Walla  Walla  with  the  understand- 
ing that  General  Howard  would  meet  them  in  council  at  a 
later  date  at  Fort  Lapwai,  Idaho.  This  council  took  place  at 
the  appointed  place  in  May,  1877,  Joseph  and  his  brother  with 
about  fifty  of  the  tribe  being  present.  The  sessions  were  held 
in  a  large  hospital  tent.  All  picturesque  features  of  the  paint, 
dress  and  trappings  of  the  Indians  were  strictly  carried  into 
effect.  A  Catholic  priest  from  the  reservation  opened  the  meet- 
ing with  prayer.  General  Howard  referred  to  the  council  with 
Ollicut  at  Fort  Walla  Walla  twelve  days  before  and  quietly 
stated  that  he  was  there  to  learn  what  Joseph  had  to  say. 
Joseph  said  that  there  was  another  band  of  Indians,  under 
Chief  "White  Bird,"  from  the  Salmon  River  Valley  and  he 
should  be  there  the  following  day,  and  he  requested  that  they 
should  not  hurry  away  until  all  were  there  for  the  talk.  He  was 
then  told  by  General  Howard  that  Mr.  Monteith  (the  Indian 
agent)  and  he  had  received  instructions  from  Washington. 
"They  sent  us  to  your  people  and  should  you  comply  with  the 
wishes  of  the  Government  you  can  have  the  first  pick  of  vacant 
land.  We  will  wait  for  White  Bird  if  you  desire  it.'  The 
"dreamer"  and  the  "medicine  man"  then  spoke  in  petulant  and 
querulous  manner.  The  agent  read  his  instructions  from 
Washington,  which  were  carefully  interpreted,  and  he  added, 
"I  sent  out  Reuben  (then  the  chief  of  the  treaty  Nez  Perces) 
and  some  others  to  your  camp,  and  invited  you  to  come  in. 
(This  message  went  to  them  in  the  Grande  Ronde  Valley,  or 
Wallowa  country,  and  was  not  heeded.)  Joseph  can  select  the 
place  he  wants  if  he  will  do  so  at  once."  Ollicut,  a  splendid, 
intelligent  fellow  seemed  at  times  almost  persuaded  to  yield  to 


56  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

the  white  man's  power,  then  driving  himself  in  seeming  regret 
to  the  opposite  extreme,  Ollicut  spoke.  "We  must  think  for 
ourselves,  white  men  and  Indians,  we  have  respect  for  the 
white  men  but  they  treat  us  like  dogs  and  I  sometimes  think  my 
friends  are  different  from  what  I  supposed.  There  should  be 
one  law  for  all.  If  I  commit  murder  I  shall  be  hanged,  but 
if  I  do  well  I  should  not  be  punished.  Our  friends  will  be  here 
tomorrow  and  I  will  then  tell  you  what  I  think."  Explanations 
were  made  at  length  by  General  Howard  and  Mr.  Monteith, 
the  agent.  The  old  dreamer,  whom  the  Indians  regarded  with 
great  respect,  became  insolent  and  seemed  to  exercise  a  bad 
influence  all  the  time. 

The  second  Indian  council  was  held  at  Lapwai,  May  4. 
White  Bird  had  marched  into  the  Valley  with  part  of  his  band. 
The  remainder  were  driving  ponies  and  fetching  the  lodges 
and  provisions  across  Craig  Mountain.  After  the  formal  open- 
ing of  the  meeting  Joseph  in  a  brief  speech  introduced  White 
Bird.  Joseph  had  made  a  careful  toilet  and  rouged  slightly, 
while  White  Bird's  face  bore  an  expression  of  impassa- 
bility.  The  Indians  put  forward  "Too-hul-hul-Sota,"  broad- 
shouldered,  deep-chested,  5  feet  tall,  with  a  voice  that  betrayed 
in  every  word  his  settled  hatred  of  all  white  men.  He  spoke 
for  some  time  in  seeming  understanding  of  the  situation.  After 
a  long  and  heated  argument  he  proposed  to  Joseph  and  White 
Bird  not  to  meet  again  until  the  following  Monday. 

It  had  become  apparent  that  it  was  necessary  to  have  more 
troops ;  a  company  from  Grande  Ronde  Valley  and  a  new  com- 
pany from  Walla  Walla  were  in  this  vicinity.  The  wild  Indians 
were  well  armed,  with  many  breech-loading  rifles  and  pistols, 
while  the  friendly  Nez  Perces  had  nothing  but  shot  guns.  The 
non-treaty  Indians  had  the  best  skirmishers  in  the  world. 
Already  there  was  hovering  about  Lapwai  this  well  appointed 
force  of  Indians,  and  there  was  a  nervous  strain  on  the 
insufficient  garrison. 

The  next  council  was  a  very  exciting  one.  "Too-hul-hul 
Sota"  was  extremely  insulting,  eliciting  a  sharp  reprimand 
from  General  Howard.  Turning  to  the  others  General  Howard 
asked  Joseph,  White  Bird,  and  Looking  Glass,  to  go  with  him 
and  inspect  lands.  After  another  turbulent  scene  "Too-hul-hul- 
Sota"  was  expelled  from  the  room  and  placed  under  guard,  and 


NEZ    PERCES    CAMPAIGN  57 

the  other  Indians  changed  their  tone.  They  spoke  pleasantly 
and  agreed  to  go  with  General  Howard  to  examine  the  Lapwai 
and  afterwards  the  Clearwater  country.  On  the  return  of  this 
party  the  Indians  came  together  for  a  final  interview,  Tuesday, 
May  14.  Meanwhile,  Captain  Trimble's  company  of  the  First 
Cavalry  had  arrived  at  Lapwai  and  gone  into  camp.  Special 
news  brought  the  glad  tidings  that  two  other  companies  had 
reached  the  banks  of  the  Grande  Ronde,  a  fact  which  created 
much  excitement  among  the  Indians.  Joseph  tried  in  breath- 
less haste  to  settle  all  matters  speedily.  The  white  inhabitants 
of  Salmon  River  and  Camas  Prairie  and  the  vicinity  of 
Wallowa,  and  of  the  neighborhood  of  Tush-hush-cute's  roam- 
ing places,  had  from  time  to  time  sent  the  agents  complaints 
and  earnest  entreaties  that  the  Indians  be  made  to  go  on  their 
reservations ;  quite  a  number  of  their  representatives  were 
present  to  urge  the  action.  All  came  together  for  this  final 
talk ;  the  Indians'  petition  to  release  the  old  dreamer  had  been 
granted,  and  they  entered  into  formal  agreement  with  the  agent 
and  the  Army,  to  be  placed  on  the  Lapwai  reservation  in  one 
month  (by  June  14).  Joseph  had  at  last  concluded  that  he 
would  rather  go  to  the  Clearwater  with  the  others,  and  this 
favor  was  granted  him  to  relieve  some  embarrassing  situations. 
There  was  general  rejoicing  over  the  peaceful  outcome  of  the 
council. 

On  the  fifteenth  a  detachment  sent  out  from  Lapwai  met  two 
excited  Indians  somewhere  near  Craig  Mountain  and  turned 
back  to  Lapwai  with  them.  The  name  of  one  was  "Pu-tou- 
chloo,"  while  the  other  was  a  boy  about  14  years  of  age.  The 
officers  heard  their  story  through  an  interpreter,  to  the  effect 
that  some  three  or  four  Indians  had  committed  a  murder  near 
Slate  Creek  where  there  was  a  scattered  settlement  some  40 
miles  beyond  Mount  Idaho.  It  was  in  some  way  connected 
with  a  citizen  named  Larry  Ott,  who  had  killed  an  Indian.  (I 
have  always  heard  this  murder  occurred  over  the  killing  of  a 
hog  by  the  Indian.  The  bringing  in  of  the  hogs  by  settlers  had 
been  strongly  objected  to  by  the  Indians,  since  the  hogs  de- 
stroyed the  camass  root,  a  small  bulb  largely  used  by  the 
Indians  to  make  their  bread.)  The  ranking  officer  took  the 
Indians  to  the  reservation  and  there  learned  through  the  official 
interpreter  that  Larry  Ott's  story  was  confirmed  by  Mr.  Whit- 


58  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

man  and  all  now  believed  that  serious  trouble  was  coining.  The 
interpreter  and  the  Indian  agent  thought  it  wise  to  send  at 
once  the  acting  head  chief,  Joseph's  father-in-law,  who  still 
insisted  that  Joseph  would  not  fight,  and  he  volunteered  to  go. 
The  party  rode  away  at  full  speed.  They  had  not  been  gone 
long  when  they  came  back  with  another  communication  from 
Mount  Idaho,  brought  in  by  the  brother  of  "Looking  Glass" 
and  a  half-breed  citizen  by  the  name  of  West. 

The  time  of  busy  preparation  had  come  as  before  a  battle, 
officers  and  men  were  mostly  silent  but  in  constant  motion. 
Arms,  ammunition,  provisions,  means  of  transportation,  in  fact, 
everything  was  being  put  in  readiness,  with  steady  nerves, 
without  haste,  without  confusion. 

We  were  well  posted  at  Fort  Walla  Walla  in  regard  to  the 
military  situation,  by  the  constant  arrival  of  couriers  from  the 
front.  In  the  course  of  other  business  with  the  office  of  the 
medical  director  of  the  Department,  Dr.  Sternberg  had  been 
informed  he  would  not  be  ordered  in  the  field,  but  he  might 
possibly  be  ordered  to  serve  at  headquarters  in  Portland  to 
relieve  a  surgeon  on  duty  there  who  wished  to  go  with  the 
troops  in  the  field.  Meanwhile  we  assisted  in  every  way  pos- 
sible our  friends  who  were  going  from  the  garrison.  They  left 
by  detachments,  as  the  situation  grew  more  and  more  threaten- 
ing. When  our  last  troops  marched  away  for  the  front,  June 
19,  1877,  we  drove  a  little  way  with  them,  thinking  there  would 
be  messages  to  wives  and  children,  or  perhaps  some  personal 
business  that  remained  to  be  looked  after  on  account  of  the 
haste  with  which  the  men  had  obeyed  the  order  to  march. 

It  was  nearly  11  a.  m.  when  we  returned  home,  and  to  our 
surprise  we  found  an  order  for  Dr.  Sternberg  to  take  his  field 
equipment  and  proceed  without  delay  to  Fort  Lapwai.  He  was 
to  join  at  Wallula  on  the  Columbia  River  the  detachment  of 
troops  being  rushed  to  the  field  for  action  from  San  Francisco 
and  the  artillery  that  had  been  intercepted  en  route  from 
Alaska.  We  had  but  a  few  moments  together  after  the  order 
came ;  at  2  p.  m.  he  took  the  train  for  Wallula,  shipping  his  fine 
horse  and  his  camp  outfit  by  the  same  train. 

Among  the  officers  he  joined  on  the  river  boat  at  Wallula 
were  some  he  had  known  before.  As  he  had  been  in  closer 
touch  with  the  war  news  than  they,  much  of  the  time  en  route 


NEZ    PERCES    CAMPAIGN  59 

to  Lewiston  was  spent  in  reviewing  the  military  situation. 
Immediately  on  the  arrival  at  Lewiston  they  were  met  by 
officers  from  Fort  Lapwai,  and  instructions  were  given  to  make 
all  possible  haste,  to  disembark  and  get  under  way  to  report  at 
Fort  Lapwai.  At  this  post  they  were  given  extra  supplies  and 
some  pack  mules,  and  more  explicit  orders.  In  view  of  the 
information  they  received  in  regard  to  the  situation  at  the  front 
it  was  scarcely  necessary  to  give  instructions  for  haste  and 
caution  in  advancing.  They  had  learned  of  the  terrible  tragedy 
at  White  Bird  Canyon,  where  Colonel  Perry's  command  had 
suffered  severe  losses,  and  nothing  more  was  needed  to  stimu- 
late officers  and  men  to  do  their  utmost  and  move  as  fast  as 
possible  to  the  assistance  of  comrades  and  settlers,  badly  in 
need  of  help. 

The  men  trudged  quickly  along  through  a  cold  rain  and  the 
officers  did  what  they  could  to  keep  up  the  courage  of  the  rank 
and  file.  They  passed  the  spots  already  made  known  to  the 
public  by  the  assaults  on  the  settlers  by  the  non-treaty  Indians. 
They  marched  past  the  White  Bird  Canyon  where  the  bodies 
of  their  dead  fellows  were  lying  still  unburied.  No  cheerful 
thought  greeted  them  on  their  way.  They  were  chilled  through, 
hungry  and  tired,  many  of  them  almost  exhausted,  but  they 
pushed  doggedly  on.  At  last  they  reached  the  designated  camp- 
ing place  and  rendezvous  with  comrades  more  than  glad  to  wel- 
come them.  Dr.  Sternberg,  whose  personal  comfort  was  looked 
after  by  Captain  Trimble  of  the  First  Cavalry,  a  member  of 
Fort  Walla  Walla  garrison,  was  very  much  exhausted  from 
fatigue  and  exposure.  It  was  quite  dark  when  they  arrived 
and  the  latter  part  of  the  trail  had  been  very  rough.  The 
mounted  officers  found  in  crossing  some  of  the  bluffs  that  it 
was  almost  impossible  to  keep  in  their  saddles.  The  horses 
would  lose  their  footing  and  it  would  seem  certain  they  could 
not  recover  a  foothold.  Later  on  these  conditions  were  intensi- 
fied and  riding  was  accompanied  with  great  discomfort,  while 
walking  was  equally  tiresome.  Particularly  was  this  true  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  Salmon  and  Clearwater  rivers.  Often  in  quiet 
moments  at  home  Dr.  Sternberg  would  tell  of  the  great  fatigue 
and  hardships  of  this  campaign,  that  nothing  helped  the  cour- 
age, and  comfort,  of  every  one  as  did  the  hot  coffee  and  the 
crisp  bacon  and  bread. 


60  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

BATTLE     ON     THE     CLEARWATER. 

The  following  description  of  the  battle  on  the  Clearwater, 
July  11,  1877,  I  have  abstracted  from  General  Howard.  After 
much  skirmishing  and  taking  of  important  positions  to  be  pro- 
tected beyond  the  second  bluff  we  found  Joseph  and  his  people 
dismounted  and  already  in  position  on  our  approach,  while 
some  thirty  or  forty  mounted  Indians  had  galloped  just  beyond 
our  range  to  compass  our  left.  Our  troops  all  pushed  forward 
in  an  open  line  of  2^  miles  in  extent.  The  Indians  by  their 
rapid  movements  struck  the  rear  of  a  small  pack  train,  killed 
two  packers  and  came  very  near  capturing  the  ammunition. 
The  main  supply  train  was  saved  only  by  the  quick  work  of  a 
messenger  guarding  it  within  our  lines,  and  at  one  moment  it 
was  feared  the  Indians  would  destroy  all  the  food  and  the 
powder.  The  enemy  manifested  extraordinary  quickness  and 
boldness,  planting  sharpshooters  at  all  available  points,  making 
charges  on  foot  and  on  horseback,  but  these  attempts  were  all 
resisted  successfully.  A  spirited  charge  was  tried  on  our  right 
down  into  a  ravine.  At  night  the  Indians  had  hastily  thrown 
up  barricades  of  stone  behind  which  they  fought.  A  move  on 
our  part  was  made  on  the  right,  using  artillery,  infantry,  and 
every  available  man  from  the  cavalry,  including  horse  holders, 
orderlies,  and  extra  men. 

A  few  Indian  sharpshooters  managed  to  annoy  every  man 
who  approached  the  spring,  their  only  water  supply,  and  in 
spite  of  a  successful  charge  the  situation  was  still  uncomfort- 
able. At  this  stage  of  the  fighting  Dr.  Sternberg  was  called  at 
night  to  go  to  the  fighting  line  to  take  care  of  some  wounded. 
He  went  hastily  to  the  front  and  found  a  man  who  was  a 
packer,  badly  wounded  and  bleeding  profusely.  He  feared  he 
could  not  remove  him  any  distance  without  danger  of  great 
loss  of  blood.  He  instructed  his  assistant  to  light  a  candle  and 
screen  it  with  a  blanket,  in  order  to  form  a  shield  behind  which 
he  could  tie  the  artery.  No  sooner  had  the  candle  been  lighted 
than  the  bullets  came  thick  and  fast  at  this  faint  little  mark,  and 
it  had  to  be  quickly  extinguished.  No  change  in  the  situation, 
no  matter  how  small,  escaped  the  keen-eyed  Indians.  While  at 
work  among  the  fighting  men  Dr.  Sternberg's  attention  was 
attracted  by  the  calling  of  many  voices  saying  "for  God's  sake 
bring  us  water  to  drink."     Dr.  Sternberg  could  not  for  one 


NEZ    PERCES    CAMPAIGN  61 

moment  resist  the  call  for  water  and  after  placing  his  wounded 
under  shelter  he  went  to  the  officer's  tent  and  succeeded  in 
getting  quite  a  force  together  to  take  water  from  the  spring 
to  the  poor  suffering  men  in  the  barricade.  At  one  time  they 
had  to  use  water  through  which  the  mules  had  been  driven  in 
taking  their  position.  The  squaws  were  very  helpful  to  the 
Indians  by  looking  after  the  water  supplies,  and  driving  herds 
of  ponies  through  the  camp  to  cause  our  horses  and  mules  to 
stampede,  hoping  thereby  to  leave  the  command  without 
transportation. 

During  the  first  night  of  the  Clearwater  Battle,  stone  barri- 
cades were  constructed  by  ourselves  and  also  by  the  Indians. 
At  daylight,  July  12,  every  available  man  was  on  the  fighting 
line.  The  order  was  given  that  food  should  be  cooked  and 
carried  to  the  front,  not  an  easy  task,  for  the  army  had  not  yet 
secured  complete  possession  of  the  spring,  and  sufficient  water 
had  not  been  procured  during  the  night.  The  number  of  Indian 
warriers  under  Joseph  were  about  equal  to  ours.  All  tactics 
that  promised  success  were  used  by  both  parties ;  some  of  these 
were  very  difficult  of  execution.  Even  that  maneuver  known 
as  "rolling  up  the  enemy's  line"  was  employed  but  Joseph  made 
a  stubborn  resistance  at  his  barricades  and  fought  the  white 
men  with  wonderful  skill  and  bravery. 

It  is  recorded,  however,  that  at  this  moment  in  the  conflict 
the  whole  line  of  Indians  suddenly  gave  way.  Immediately, 
pursuit  was  taken  up  by  the  whole  force  of  infantry  and  artil- 
lery. Winters'  troop  was  dismounted  and  the  remaining 
cavalry  followed  as  soon  as  they  could  saddle  and  mount.  The 
Indians  were  completely  routed,  flying  over  rugged  banks, 
through  ravines,  swimming  and  wading  the  rivers,  with  our 
forces  in  close  pursuit.  The  Indian  camp  was  abandoned  in 
such  haste  that  the  lodges  were  still  standing,  filled  with  their 
effects,  blankets,  buffalo  robes  and  provisions.  Packers  who 
knew  the  Indian  customs  went  over  the  ground  and  found  many 
"caches,"  where  the  Indians  had  buried  their  greatest  treasures, 
in  expectation  of  return.  From  these  caches  beautiful  beaded 
ceremonial  robes,  belts,  rugs  and  trinkets  were  taken  out  and 
sold  to  the  officers.  They  were  well  covered  with  sod  and  so 
smoothly  buried  that  no  one  not  accustomed  to  this  habit  would 
have  dreamed  of  locating  them. 


62  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

TRANSPORT     OF     WOUNDED 

July  12,  Dr.  Sternberg  was  left  at  Kamiah  on  the  Clearwater 
in  charge  of  twenty-seven  severely  wounded,  with  verbal 
instructions  to  convey  them  to  Grangeville,  25  miles  distant. 
There  was  very  little  transportation  or  assistance  to  get  the 
wounded  back  to  civilization.  Captain  Winters  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  escort  with  a  few  wagons,  some  horses  and 
mules  (all  inferior  animals)  ;  the  good  horses  and  mules  were 
taken  to  pursue  the  fleeing  Indians.  The  transportation  was 
too  limited  to  afford  comfortable  travel  over  the  rough  moun- 
tain roads  to  Grangeville  and  then  to  Fort  Lapwai.  Dr.  Stern- 
berg had  used  the  "travois"  in  the  Indian  Territory  in  a  war 
against  the  Cheyenne  Indians,  and  on  seeing  the  lodge  poles 
left  by  the  Indians  he  evolved  a  plan  for  transporting  his 
wounded  soldiers  on  the  travois.  Very  little  time  was  required 
before  all  was  in  readiness  for  starting  on  the  trip  to  Grange- 
ville, where  they  arrived  at  2  a.  m.,  July  14. 

From  Captain  Winters,  the  commander  of  the  escort,  I  after- 
wards learned  the  details.  At  times  when  the  horses  and  mules 
were  halted  and  the  wounded  supplied  with  water,  food  and 
stimulants,  Dr.  Sternberg  would  inquire  of  the  wounded  men 
on  travois  if  they  wished  to  make  a  change  with  the  men  in 
the  wagons.  No  one  expressed  such  a  desire.  The  travois 
proved  much  more  comfortable,  the  long  flexible  poles  drag- 
ging along  slowly  mounted  over  the  rocks  and  ridges,  without 
the  jolt  that  accompanies  even  the  motion  of  a  wagon  with 
springs.  The  experiences  of  the  night  were  quite  harassing. 
Joseph  had  been  very  shrewd  in  all  of  his  movements,  and  the 
men  felt  almost  certain  that  he  would  elude  his  pursuers  and 
return.  Dr.  Sternberg,  much  exhausted  from  his  work  and 
the  great  strain  and  loss  of  sleep,  found  it  difficult  to  keep 
awake  as  he  rode  alone  during  those  long  dark  hours.  Captain 
Winters  was  fearful  he  would  fall  asleep  and  get  hurt  by  his 
horse.  He  therefore  instructed  his  orderly  to  ride  beside  Dr. 
Sternberg  and  guide  the  horse  and  his  conversation  seemed  to 
thoroughly  awaken  him.  He  then  told  Captain  Winters  he 
would  ride  ahead  of  the  train,  arouse  the  village,  and  get  the 
people  ready  to  receive  the  wounded,  that  perhaps  he  would  be 
able  to  get  a  few  winks  of  sleep  and  rest  before  the  wounded 
arrived.    Captain  Winters  agreed. 


NEZ    PERCES    CAMPAIGN  63 

The  inhabitants  of  Grangeville  responded  quickly,  and  very 
soon  all  the  women  were  making  arrangements  to  have  hot 
coffee,  sandwiches,  bread  and  butter  for  the  wounded  and 
escort.  Dr.  Sternberg  had  taken  possession  of  a  large  build- 
ing used  as  a  meeting  place  and  carpenter's  shop  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  wounded.  After  the  wounded  were  refreshed  and 
their  wounds  dressed,  they  were  made  generally  more  com- 
fortable. The  people  of  the  village  were  as  nervous  as  they 
could  well  be  over  the  thought  that  Joseph  and  his  band  might 
appear  at  any  moment.  Few  of  the  settlers  thought  he  would 
ever  leave  the  Wallowa  Valley  which  he  loved  so  passionately, 
and  all  seemed  to  have  the  same  impression  that  he  would  elude 
General  Howard.  This  made  Dr.  Sternberg  exceedingly 
anxious  to  get  his  wounded  safely  into  Lapwai,  where  a  well 
equipped  hospital  awaited  them. 

A  condensed  statement  of  Dr.  Sternberg's  report  to  the  Sur- 
geon General  gives  the  details  of  the  subsequent  movements. 
July  19,  Dr.  Sternberg  received  permission  to  transfer  the 
wounded  from  Grangeville  to  Fort  Lapwai ;  he  left  Grange- 
ville at  4  p.  m.,  marched  18  miles  and  went  into  camp,  arriving 
there  at  9  p.  m.  They  started  at  5  a.  m.  July  20,  marched  18 
miles  to  Mason's  deserted  ranch,  arriving  there  at  12  m.,  and 
halting  for  rest,  dinner  and  to  dress  the  wounds.  They  started 
again  at  4  p.  m  and  marched  18  miles  to  White's  deserted 
ranch,  camped  there  for  the  night,  to  start  once  more  at  6  a.  m. 
July  21,  reaching  Fort  Lapwai  at  9  a.  m.  Two  of  the  wounded 
died  on  the  journey  from  the  battlefield  to  Grangeville  and  in 
another  case  Dr.  Sternberg  was  obliged  to  amputate  at  the 
knee  joint  on  his  trip  from  Grangeville  to  Lapwai. 

I  had  not  received  any  news  from  my  husband  for  ten  days, 
I  did  not  know  where  he  was  or  to  what  command  he  had  been 
attached,  whether  he  had  fared  ill  or  well,  and  I  had  no  word 
of  him  through  other  officers  of  the  garrison.  Late  one  night  I 
was  wakeful  and  feeling  quite  uneasy,  when  a  horse  came  at  a 
swift  gallop  into  the  garrison ;  from  the  Mexican  spurs  clank- 
ing on  the  board  walk,  I  knew  the  rider  could  be  none  other 
than  a  courier  from  the  front.  Jumping  from  my  bed,  I  ran  to 
the  top  of  the  stairway,  for  the  courier  had  stepped  on  the 
front  porch.  We  lived  in  a  double  set  of  quarters,  the  com- 
manding officer  on  one  side  and  the  surgeon  on  the  other.     I 


64  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

listened  with  almost  breathless  anxiety  and  heard  the  courier 
speak  of  a  battle.  Then  Mrs.  Grover,  the  wife  of  the  com- 
manding officer  called  to  me:  "They  have  had  a  battle,  your 
husband  is  safe  and  here  is  a  letter  from  him  to  you.  The 
courier  brought  a  lot  of  letters  but  I  have  no  one  to  deliver 
them."  I  said  "Give  them  to  me,  I  will  deliver  them."  After 
I  had  read  the  consoling  words  that  my  dear  one  was  well  and 
in  charge  of  the  wounded  on  his  way  back  to  Fort  Lapwai,  I 
ran  out  into  the  black  night  with  the  bundle  of  letters  directed 
to  others.  I  did  not  have  to  ring  or  rap  at  any  door ;  all  were 
on  the  lookout  for  news  and  had  heard  me  running  on  the 
board  walk. 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  on  the  way,  anxiously  pushing  along  the 
route  hoping  to  get  the  wounded  safely  into  Fort  Lapwai.  The 
wounded  were  doing  as  well  as  could  be  expected  on  the  rough 
journey.  The  next  courier  to  Fort  Walla  Walla  came  with  a 
letter  saying  that  if  I  could  bring  a  good  servant  my  husband 
would  be  very  glad  to  have  me  join  him  at  Fort  Lapwai.  After 
consulting  June,  a  faithful  Chinese  cook,  I  read  him  the  letter 
and  asked  him  if  he  would  go  with  me,  adding  some  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  the  station's  proximity  to  the  Indians.  He 
looked  thoughtful  for  a  moment,  then  he  inquired,  "You  go?" 
and  I  said  "Yes,  if  you  will  go  with  me,"  whereupon  he  agreed 
to  go.  General  Grover  made  all  the  necessary  arrangements 
for  me  to  go  in  the  morning  by  train  to  Wallula  and  by  the 
boat  up  the  river. 

We  arrived  in  due  time  at  Lewiston.  There  awaiting  the 
steamer  I  saw  Dr.  Sternberg  looking  for  me  and  my  Chinaman. 
As  we  walked  up  the  steep  incline  from  the  river  to  the  hotel 
my  husband  looked  at  me  and  said :  "The  whole  situation  has 
changed  so  since  I  asked  you  to  come  that  I  am  not  sure  that 
I  do  not  owe  it  to  you  to  send  you  immediately  home  again." 
I  laughed  and  said  "I  don't  want  to  be  sent  home  and  where 
you  are  is  home  for  me." 

The  scenes  were  just  a  little  more  exciting  than  usual  for 
everywhere  there  were  soldiers,  ammunition  and  cannons.  The 
very  atmosphere  seemed  full  of  something  unusual  and  war- 
like. A  large  conveyance  came  to  take  us  to  Fort  Lapwai,  12 
miles  distant,  and  we  were  soon  on  the  way.  At  an  abrupt  turn 
I  had  my  first  glimpse  of  the  fort.     Not  long  after  we  were 


NEZ    PERCES    CAMPAIGN  65 

passing  numbers  of  reservation  Indians  on  their  way  to  visit  the 
Indian  prisoners  recently  sent  to  Fort  Lapwai,  there  to  be  kept 
under  guard.  We  passed  the  hospital,  then  the  stockade,  the 
guardhouse,  and  entered  the  gate  to  an  enclosed  parade  ground. 
The  first  house  to  the  right  on  the  officers'  row  was  that  of 
Colonel  Perry,  who  had  turned  it  over  to  Dr.  Sternberg  during 
his  stay  at  Lapwai.  Officers  continued  to  pass  through  the  post 
every  day,  there  was  no  place,  no  mess,  really  no  home,  where 
they  could  rest  and  get  refreshment.  Consequently  we  seldom 
had  a  meal  alone  and  often  I  would  be  asked  by  my  hospitable 
husband  to  do  the  best  I  could  for  some  poor  fellow  who  had 
just  arrived  almost  exhausted  from  a  long  ride.  We  lived  with 
the  doors  wide  open,  and  at  night  we  slept  lightly,  to  be  able  to 
rouse  easily  for  any  emergency.  The  guns  stood  in  the  best 
positions  for  quick  seizure  in  case  they  were  needed.  The  only 
soldiers  at  the  post  for  all  guard  duty  were  about  twenty  men 
left  from  one  of  the  regimental  bands.  We  knew  that  in  case 
of  need  these  men  would  be  dependable  and  brave,  though  they 
had  not  been  drilled  and  were  not  expected  to  fight.  Early  in 
the  war  a  block  house  had  been  established  in  one  of  the  houses 
in  the  officers'  row,  and  casks  of  water  and  provisions  were 
kept  in  the  cellar.  Cord  wood  had  been  stacked  all  around  the 
house  to  protect  it  from  shot  and  all  the  women  and  children 
had  been  instructed  in  case  of  attack  to  take  shelter  there. 

The  Indian  prisoners  became  discontented  and  restless  in 
their  confinement,  while  the  number  of  friendly  visiting  Indians 
increased  daily.  The  ladies  grew  more  and  more  nervous  in 
regard  to  the  number  of  prisoners  and  the  very  few  soldiers, 
while  the  Indian  Agent  was  uneasy  about  the  constant  inter- 
course between  the  Reservation  Indians  and  prisoners.  Settlers 
periodically  started  rumors  that  Joseph  had  evaded  General 
Howard  and  was  on  his  way  back.  A  report  to  Washington  on 
the  conditions  relating  to  the  Reservation  Indians  and  the 
prisoners  of  war  brought  an  order  for  the  removal  of  the  latter 
to  Fort  Vancouver  or  some  other  place.  Never  shall  I  forget 
the  deep  moans,  and  the  peculiar  cries  of  the  Indians  when 
informed  they  were  to  be  sent  away.  The  Reservation  Nez 
Perces  flocked  near  the  stockade  to  sympathize  with  and  to  say 
good-bye  to  these  poor  forsaken  human  beings  leaving  forever 
their  own  country.     They  cut  necklaces  of  beads  from  their 


66  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

persons,  and  beaded  work  from  their  clothing,  and  threw 
moccasins  over  the  stockade  as  parting  gifts.  A  remnant  of  a 
brave  race  was  leaving  forever  a  beautiful  valley  that  had  once 
been  their  home. 

In  the  stillness  of  a  night  I  heard  a  footfall  on  the  board  walk 
and  up  the  front  steps  into  our  house,  and  a  voice  saying 
hastily,  "Dr.  Sternberg,  the  packer  is  bleeding  profusely  from 
his  leg."  My  husband  jumped  from  his  bed  and  called  to  the 
man  "Put  on  the  tourniquet,  put  on  the  tourniquet,  I  will  be 
there  in  a  moment."  And  in  a  few  seconds  he  was  on  his  way. 
On  his  return  he  confided  to  me  he  had  experienced  no  end  of 
care  and  anxiety  with  this  patient  because  he  would  not  con- 
sent to  amputation.  It  was  feared  the  man  would  lose  his  life 
and  though  repeatedly  informed  of  that  possibility,  the 
wounded  man  had  replied  that  he  would  rather  lose  his  life 
than  his  leg.  Soon  after  this  the  crisis  came  and  he  was  obliged 
to  face  the  inevitable,  and  he  gave  his  consent  to  operation  then 
at  much  greater  risk  than  would  have  been  experienced  earlier. 
We  often  saw  him  at  a  later  date  in  Walla  Walla.  He  would 
invariably  come  to  the  carriage  to  say  "Let  me  kiss  the  hand 
that  saved  my  life."  This  recalls  to  my  mind  the  same  senti- 
ment expressed  by  a  poor  colored  man  in  Florida  upon  whom 
Dr.  Sternberg  had  operated  for  a  cataract.  The  operation  was 
a  success  and  the  man  to  whom  sight  had  been  restored  never 
allowed  Dr.  Sternberg  to  pass  without  running  to  kiss  his 
hand. 

After  the  removal  of  the  Nez  Perces  with  their  wives  and 
their  children,  there  was  a  wave  of  quiet  prevailing  at  Fort 
Lapwai  for  a  few  hours.  The  Army  news  was  that  Gen.  Frank 
Wheaton  had  arrived  with  his  regiment  from  Georgia  to  join 
the  forces  in  the  field.  Scouting  parties  were  sent  in  every  direc- 
tion to  see  if  any  traces  of  the  Nez  Perces  could  be  found  in 
the  old  hunting  grounds  and  in  our  vicinity.  The  settlers  were 
in  a  constant  state  of  stampede  because  of  the  rumors.  After 
a  thorough  search  it  became  quite  evident  that  the  non-treaty 
Indians  and  their  allies  were  not  lurking  in  their  old  haunts. 
Meantime  Colonel  Green  with  a  cavalry  force  from  Fort 
Boise  had  joined  the  army  in  the  field.  Some  of  his  troops 
aided  General  Howard  in  the  pursuit  of  Joseph  over  the  Lolo 
trail,  while  he  and  two  troops  of  cavalry  remained  at  Mount 


NEZ    PERCES    CAMPAIGN  67 

Idaho  to  intercept  returning  or  renegade  Indians.  General 
Howard  was  moving  over  the  Lolo  trail  into  Montana  and 
soon  Fort  Lapwai  would  only  hear  from  them  through  couriers 
and  officers  on  business.  The  wounded  and  the  sick  in  the 
hospital  were  at  this  time  all  doing  well,  many  of  them  mov- 
ing about  the  garden  or  sitting  on  the  porch.  In  the  meantime 
more  surgeons  had  come  with  the  troops  into  the  Department 
of  Columbia  and  it  was  decided  to  send  Dr.  Sternberg  to  his 
post  at  Walla  Walla.  This  was  a  welcome  change  for  he  had 
endured  great  hardship  and  much  exposure,  after  which  the 
prospect  of  a  rest  was  greatly  appreciated. 

EARLY     WORK     ON     DISINFECTANTS 

November  2,  1878,  Dr.  Sternberg  received  a  telegraphic 
order  to  represent  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Army  at  the 
meeting  of  the  American  Public  Health  Association,  in  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  November  19.  The  date  of  the  meeting  gave  very 
limited  time  for  crossing  the  continent,  and  on  inquiry,  it 
was  learned  that  he  could  not  go  east  by  way  of  Portland  and 
San  Francisco  (the  most  comfortable  route)  and  reach  Rich- 
mond in  time  for  the  meeting.  He  was  therefore  obliged  to 
take  the  stage  route  to  the  Central  Pacific  R.  R.  at  Winne- 
mucca,  Nevada,  a  long  rough  trip  of  nearly  450  miles.  The 
meals  furnished  at  the  station  en  route  were  so  unwholesome, 
consisting  largely  of  bacon,  fried  potatoes  and  hot  bread,  that 
indigestion  soon  added  to  the  discomfort  of  all  the  passengers. 
A  lady  passenger  and  Dr.  Sternberg  both  fainted  in  the  stage 
in  consequence  of  the  hardships  encountered  in  making  this 
frontier  trip.  The  cordial  greetings  of  professional  friends, 
participation  in  the  discussions  of  able  papers,  and  the  inspira- 
tion that  came  from  contact  with  men  of  sympathetic  interests, 
all  served  to  fire  him  with  renewed  ambition.  He  returned 
home  from  the  scientific  meeting  determined  to  solve  some 
interesting  problems  on  which  he  had  previously  worked. 

In  addition  to  his  professional  post  work  at  Fort  Walla 
Walla,  Dr.  Sternberg  had  quite  a  large  outside  practice,  yet  in 
1878  he  began  experiments  to  determine  the  practical  value  of 
commercial  disinfectants,  a  line  of  work  with  which  his  name 
henceforth  became  conspicuously  identified  until  the  question 
was  finally  and  satisfactorily  settled.    He  had  previously  given 


68  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

much  time  and  thought  to  this  work,  and  he  deserves  great 
credit  for  what  he  accomplished  in  this  remote  place  even  at 
that  date.  With  no  facilities  for  scientific  experiment  except 
those  he  improvised,  and  with  only  such  materials  as  were  at 
hand,  he  began  a  work  of  great  practical  and  scientific  value. 
The  work  reached  its  conclusion  in  1885,  and  served  to  bring 
him  renown.    To  quote  from  an  expert  in  this  field : 

No  one  unless  familiar  with  bacteriological  work  can  have 
the  slightest  conception  of  the  magnitude  of  the  painstaking 
labor  involved  in  the  determination  of  the  thermal  death  point 
of  pathogenic  organisms,  and  the  germicidal  value  of  certain 
chemical  and  physical  agents.  It  required  daily  and  exacting 
application,  extending  over  a  period  of  years,  but  it  was  a 
glorious  work  in  the  battle  against  infectious  diseases.  The 
eradication  of  preventable  diseases  is  the  highest  aim  of  scien- 
tific medicine  today,  and  in  this  field  Dr.  Sternberg  was  one 
of  the  chief  foundation  builders.1 

April  18,  1879,  a  telegraphic  order  relieved  Dr.  Sternberg 
from  the  post  at  Walla  Walla  and  directed  him  to  report  to  the 
Surgeon-General  at  Washington,  D.  C.  In  our  service  at  Army 
posts  I  always  became  much  attached  to  our  friends  and  to  our 
many  homes.  I  was  in  consequence  very  sad  when  we  were 
again  required  to  bid  adieu  to  pleasant  surroundings.  On 
inquiry  we  learned  that  our  belongings  could  not  be  shipped 
across  the  continent  at  a  reasonable  rate.  The  railroad  officials 
were  clever  in  those  days:  if  your  things  were  heavy,  the  com- 
pany weighed  them;  if  they  were  crated  and  bulky,  they  meas- 
ured them  and  charged  accordingly.  I  knew  we  could  never 
replace  some  of  our  household  treasures,  but  there  was  no 
alternative,  and  we  were  forced  to  let  them  go.  In  disposing 
of  our  horses  we  tried  to  give  them  good  homes,  where  they 
would  be  kindly  treated.  In  due  time  we  had  again  crossed 
the  continent. 


1.  Kober,  G.  M. :  Sternberg  the  Scientist  and  Author,  Address 
delivered  at  the  complimentary  dinner  to  Gen.  George  M.  Sternberg, 
Washington,  1908. 


CHAPTER    EIGHT 

SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  very  happy  as  we  approached  the  East 
and  were  near  the  end  of  our  journey.  He  knew  that  in  the 
East  he  was  to  have  opportunity ;  that  he  would  be  able  there 
to  pursue  under  favorable  conditions  the  scientific  and  sani- 
tary research  on  which  he  was  engaged.  There  he  would  be 
in  touch  with  men  interested  in  his  line  of  endeavor,  and  with 
the  modern  developments  of  research  work.  On  our  arrival 
in  Washington,  Dr.  Sternberg  was  detailed  for  duty  with  the 
Havana  Yellow  Fever  Commission  of  the  National  Board  of 
Health.  We  arranged  for  a  very  quiet  life,  so  that  he  could 
give  his  entire  attention  to  the  microscopical  work  in  connec- 
tion with  the  examination  of  the  blood  and  tissues  of  yellow 
fever  patients.  He  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  in  working  with 
high  power  lenses  and  in  making  photomicrographs,  as  a  new 
and  valuable  method  for  illustrating  his  future  research  work. 
Photomicrography  proved  very  fatiguing  work,  requiring 
much  time  and  great  care  and  patience.  The  entire  process 
was  so  delicate  that  frequently  the  jar  of  a  wagon  passing  on 
the  street  would  throw  an  object  out  of  focus  and  so  result  in 
great  disappointment.  Yet  Dr.  Sternberg  never  lost  faith  in 
this  process,  as  he  indicates  in  a  paper  presented  to  the  Micro- 
scopical Society  in  1892.  He  considered  photomicrographs 
far  superior  to  handmade  drawings,  in  that  they  show  in  a 
very  satisfactory  manner  the  structural  details  of  miscoscopic 
objects,  because  they  exclude  those  errors  which  result  from 
faulty  drawings,  careless  observation,  or  suppression  and 
exaggeration  of  detail  due  to  personal  bias.  They  are  unim- 
peachable evidence  of  what  has  been  seen  under  the  micro- 
scope, and  as  such,  will  always  have  special  value  as 
illustrations  for  original  research  work  relating  to  the  mor- 
phology of  micro-organisms  or  histological  details  of  animal 
and  vegetable  tissue.  The  art  of  making  photomicrographs 
had  its  origin  in  this  country  at  the  Army  Medical  Museum  in 
Washington,  where  Dr.  Curtis  made  the  first  successful  effort 
and  Woodward  achieved  remarkable  success  in  photographing 


70  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

difficult  test  diatoms,  etc.  Dr.  Robert  Koch,  the  famous 
German  bacteriologist,  first  employed  this  method  in  illustrating 
some  of  his  papers  relating  to  bacteria,  and  published  many 
admirable  photomicrographs,  as  long  ago  as  1877. 

THE     HAVANA     YELLOW     FEVER     COMMISSION 

The  Yellow  Fever  Commission  consisted  of  Dr.  Stanford 
Chaille  of  New  Orleans  (Chairman),  Mr.  Hardue,  civil  engi- 
neer of  New  Orleans,  Dr.  Sternberg  (Secretary),  and  Dr.  Juan 
Guiteras  of  Havana.  Later,  through  Dr.  Sternberg's  letters, 
I  was  made  acquainted  with  his  newly  acquired  friends  resid- 
ing in  Cuba,  Dr.  Carlos  Finlay  with  whom  he  became  intimate, 
Dr.  Emiles  Martinez,  Dr.  Tincende  de  la  Suardia  of  the 
Charity  Hospital,  Dr.  D.  M.  Burgess,  United  States  Sanitary 
Inspector  and  practising  physician  in  Havana,  and  other  pro- 
fessional men  who  were  intensely  interested  and  very  helpful 
in  the  work. 

The  Yellow  Fever  Commission  received  the  following 
instructions  from  the  National  Board  of  Health. 

First :  to  ascertain  the  actual  sanitary  conditions  of  the 
principal  ports  of  Cuba  from  which  shipments  are  made  to  the 
United  States.  Second:  to  increase  existing  knowledge  as  to 
the  pathology  of  yellow  fever.  Third :  to  obtain  as  much 
information  as  possible  with  regard  to  the  so-called  endemicity. 

In  the  division  of  labor  made  by  the  members  of  the  Com- 
mission, the  duty  of  conducting  the  investigations  under  the 
first  and  third  of  the  above  instructions  was  assigned  to  the 
chairman,  Dr.  Chaille,  those  under  the  second  heading  to  Dr. 
Guiteras,  while  the  attention  of  Dr.  Sternberg  was  to  be  given 
chiefly  to  investigations  contemplated  in  the  following  addi- 
tional instructions  : 

But  in  addition  to  these  the  National  Board  of  Health  desires 
that  the  Commission  shall  consider  certain  problems  relating 
to  the  disease,  problems  which  may  be  entirely  insoluble,  but 
which  nevertheless  are  of  such  importance  that  an  effort  should 
be  made  to  decide  whether  the  National  Board  of  Health  will 
be  justified  in  undertaking  the  labor  and  expense,  which  will 
probably  be  required  to  obtain  anything  like  a  complete  solu- 
tion of  them,  if  such  solution  is  at  all  possible.  These  prob- 
lems relate  to  the  nature  and  natural  history  of  the  cause 
of  yellow  fever. 


SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH  71 

Like  all  his  writings,  my  letters  from  him  contained  infor- 
mation clearly  stated  and  always  comprehensive.  I  had  taken 
a  great  interest  in  his  preparatory  work,  because  he  was  kind 
enough  to  wish  me  to  know  his  aims.  In  conversations  at  home 
he  patiently  explained  matters  with  the  greatest  care  and  detail, 
thereby  educating  me  up  to  a  point  of  intelligent  interest.  His 
letters  continued  to  bring  a  reasonable  amount  of  detail  of  his 
laboratory  work  and  kept  me  in  touch  with  his  surroundings 
and  ambitions.  Dr.  Sternberg's  own  experience,  the  obser- 
vations of  Dr.  Joseph  Jones  of  New  Orleans,  of  Dr.  Cockran 
of  Mobile,  Ala.,  and  in  fact  of  all  medical  men  with  extensive 
and  excellent  opportunities  for  observation  in  hospital  and 
private  practice,  agreed  that  the  prominent  symptoms  of  yellow 
fever  indicated  that  the  causative  organisms  would  possibly 
be  found  in  the  blood  of  patients  suffering  with  the  disease. 
Dr.  Sternberg  consequently  gave  much  of  his  time  to  micro- 
scopic examination  of  the  blood  of  patients  in  all  stages  of  the 
disease,  and  in  making  a  photomicrographic  record  of  all  cases. 
At  one  time  ninety-eight  specimens  from  forty-one  undoubted 
cases  of  yellow  fever  were  carefully  studied,  and  105  photo- 
graphic negatives  were  made. 

In  Cuba  Dr.  Sternberg  used  sunlight  reflected  by  a  heliostat, 
and  he  worked  in  a  dark  room  which  constituted  the  camera. 
Many  of  the  photomicrographs  he  made  at  that  time  won  com- 
mendation from  experts,  while  some  of  them  have  never  been 
equaled.  One  who  knew  Dr.  Sternberg  intimately  has  spoken 
of  his  reputation  for  "clear  statements  of  the  results  in  his 
experimental  data."  The  enormous  labor  he  bestowed  on  the 
perfection  and  simplification  of  technic  will  always  be  appre- 
ciated by  research  workers.  It  is  not  generally  known  that 
Dr.  Sternberg  was  the  pioneer  in  bacteriology  in  the  United 
States ;  there  were,  in  fact,  no  workers  in  pure  bacteriology  in 
this  country  when  he  entered  the  field.  He  gave  to  his  pro- 
fession services  the  importance  of  which  was  not  generally 
appreciated  at  that  time,  except  by  a  few  scientific  men  and 
students  who  came  in  contact  with  him. 

In  1880  I  was  made  very  happy  by  the  receipt  of  a  letter 
telling  me  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission  was  preparing  to 
return  home.  A  date  had  been  fixed  for  leaving  Havana, 
though  a  great  deal  of  time  was  required  for  packing  the  valu- 


71  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

able  material  which  was  to  be  kept  for  future  reference.  We 
remained  in  Georgetown  (D.  C.)  while  Dr.  Sternberg  was 
engaged  in  writing  his  report.  The  next  meeting  of  the 
National  Board  of  Health  was  for  him  a  great  event.  Friends 
were  cordial  in  their  greeting  and  his  preliminary  report  was 
well  received.  Soon  thereafter  he  was  again  at  work  in  the 
laboratory  going  over  his  field  notes  and  cultivating  various 
bacteria  which  he  had  isolated  and  brought  home  with  him  for 
experimental  work  and  further  study.  While  in  Havana  he 
had  examined  many  specimens  of  blood  from  patients  in  all 
stages  of  yellow  fever,  but  thus  far  the  specific  germ  had 
evaded  his  faithful  search.  Enough  had  been  accomplished  to 
convince  him  and  members  of  the  profession  especially  inter- 
ested in  the  research  that  greater  progress  must  be  made  in  the 
new  science  of  bacteriology  before  definite  conclusions  regard- 
ing the  causative  organism  of  yellow  fever  could  be  reached 
and  proclaimed. 

The  following  quotation  shows  Dr.  Sternberg's  appreciation 
of  the  magnitude  of  his  task : 

I  might  well  have  hesitated  before  undertaking  this  unprom- 
ising investigation  if  the  language  of  our  instructions  had 
implied  that  the  National  Board  of  Health  considered  this  an 
easy  task  and  one  which  was  expected  would  be  accomplished 
during  our  brief  stay  in  Havana,  but  you  will  observe  that  no 
such  result  was  anticipated,  that  the  difficulty  of  the  undertaking 
was  fully  appreciated  and  that  the  work  of  the  Havana  Com- 
mission in  this  direction  was  looked  upon  as  pioneer  work  to 
decide  whether  the  National  Board  will  be  justified  in  under- 
taking the  labor  and  expense  which  will  probably  be  required 
to  obtain  anything  like  a  complete  solution,  if  such  solution  is 
at  all  possible. 

Dr  Sternberg  had  faith  that  science  and  painstaking  work 
would  eventually  solve  the  problem,  but  he  knew  enough  of 
the  disease  to  have  little  expectation  that  three  months'  work 
in  Havana  would  do  more  than  clear  away  some  of  the  obstruc- 
tions from  the  path  of  future  investigators. 

STUDIES     OF     MALARIA 

Under  instructions  from  the  National  Board  of  Health,  Dr. 
Sternberg  proceeded  to  New  Orleans  in  1880  to  investigate 
the  micro-organisms  in  the  air,  and  to  make  a  study  of  malarial 


SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH  73 

fever.  He  very  soon  arranged  his  temporary  laboratory  and 
was  speedily  interested  in  making  cultures  from  plates  exposed 
in  the  air  or  from  specimens  of  mud  from  the  gutters  and 
elsewhere. 

The  important  announcement  that  Laveran,  a  French  army 
surgeon  at  that  time  stationed  in  Algeria,  had  discovered  the 
organism  of  malarial  fever,  induced  the  National  Board  of 
Health  to  have  Dr.  Sternberg  verify  these  claims.  It  hap- 
pened that  one  year  before  the  publication  of  Laveran's  paper, 
the  distinguished  German  pathologist  Klebs  in  association  with 
a  prominent  Italian  physician,  Tommasi-Crudeli,  had  announced 
the  discovery  of  a  bacillus  which  they  believed  to  be  the  true 
cause  of  the  disease.  Their  investigations  were  made  in  Rome, 
with  material  obtained  from  the  malarial  marshes  in  the  vicinity 
of  that  city.  The  instructions  of  Dr.  Sternberg  were  "to  make 
control  experiments  in  a  recognized  malarial  locality  in  this 
country."  In  1881  he  made  his  report,  based  upon  repeated 
cultures  and  animal  experimentation.  His  task  was  difficult 
and  unpleasant,  and  every  line  of  thought  was  followed  out 
before  final  negative  conclusions  were  reached  and  given  out. 
He  made  a  clear  and  positive  statement  of  his  work  and  proved 
conclusively  that  the  so-called  "bacillus  malariae"  of  Klebs 
and  Tommasi-Crudeli  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  causation  of 
malarial  fevers. 

At  the  time  of  this  report  on  the  results  of  control  experi- 
ments with  the  Klebs  and  Tommasi-Crudeli  bacillus,  the  public 
and  medical  profession  had  quite  generally  accepted  and 
favored  the  claim  of  these  men,  but  Dr.  Sternberg  never 
wavered  in  his  conviction  that  they  had  made  a  mistake,  and 
he  stood  firmly  by  his  experimental  data.  Today,  no  one 
speaks  of  the  bacillus  of  Klebs-Tommasi-Crudeli,  except  as  one 
of  many  pseudo-discoveries.  It  is  regrettable  that  so  much  of 
Dr.  Sternberg's  time  had  to  be  given  to  the  negative  phase  of 
scientific  research,  that  of  confirming  or  refuting  theories  and 
conclusions  of  other  investigators. 

DISCOVERY     OF     THE     PNEUMOCOCCUS 

In  February,  1881,  Dr.  Sternberg  discovered  a  pneumococcus 
which  is  now  recognized  as  the  pathogenic  agent  of  croupous 
pneumonia,  and  which  he  found  to  be  constant  in  his  own 


74  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

sputum.  This  micro-organism  he  also  found  to  be  identical 
with  the  organism  described  by  Dr.  Pasteur,  Jan.  24,  1881,  in 
a  communication  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Paris.1 
Priority  is  therefore  accorded  to  the  latter  in  accordance 
with  the  usual  law  (priority  of  publication).  Both  Dr. 
Pasteur  and  Dr.  Sternberg  found  that  this  bacillus  produced 
septicemia  in  inoculated  animals  and  assumed  it  to  be  the 
pathogenic  agent  of  this  disease.  Dr.  Sternberg's  communica- 
tion, published  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  National  Board  of  Health, 
April  30,  1881,  is  as  follows: 

In  a  report  (not  yet  published)  made  to  the  National  Board 
of  Health  in  February  last,  I  have  given  a  detailed  account  of 
certain  experiments,  made  in  the  first  instance  as  a  check  upon 
experiments  relating  to  the  so-called  Bacillus  malariae  of  Klebs 
and  Tommasi-Crudeli,  which  show  that  my  own  saliva  has 
remarkable  virulent  properties  when  injected  into  the  sub- 
cutaneous connective  tissue  of  a  rabbit.  Further  experiments, 
made  in  the  biological  laboratory  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, have  fully  confirmed  the  results  heretofore  obtained, 
and  the  object  of  the  present  report  is  to  place  upon  record 
these  last  experiments,  which  are  of  special  interest  just  now 
because  of  the  announcement  by  Pasteur,  of  "a  new  disease," 
produced  in  rabbits  by  the  subcutaneous  injection  of  the  saliva 
of  an  infant  which  died  of  hydrophobia  in  one  of  the  hospitals 
of  Paris. 

I  have  demonstrated  by  repeated  experiments — 

That  my  saliva  in  doses  of  1.25  c.c.  to  1.75  c.c.2  injected  into 
the  subcutaneous  connective  tissue  of  a  rabbit,  infallibly  pro- 
duces death,  usually  zvithin  forty-eight  hours. 

Query.  Do  similar  results  follow  the  injection  of  other  fluids 
containing  organic  matter  in  suspension  or  solution? 

Answer.  One  c.c.  of  my  own  blood  failed  to  kill  a  rabbit ; 
1  c.c.  of  putrid  urine  containing  B.  tcrmo  in  abundance  failed 
to  kill  a  small  rabbit;  1  c.c.  (each)  of  liquid  feces  and  distilled 
water,  (1  to  10),  failed  to  kill  two  rabbits;  1.25  c.c.  of  bouillon 
undergoing  putrefaction  and  loaded  with  B.  termo,  failed  to 
kill  a  rabbit ;  1  c.c.  of  sediment  from  Baltimore  water,  consist- 


1.  Pasteur,  L. :  Sur  une  maladie  nouvelle  provoquee  par  la  salive 
d'un  enfant  mort  de  rage.  Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d.  sc.  de  Paris  92:159, 
1881. 

2.  I  have  commonly  injected  an  amount  varying  from  5  to  25 
minims,  according  to  the  size  of  the  animal,  but  in  small  rabbits  have 
had  a  fatal  result  in  three  cases  out  of  five  follow  the  injection  of  1 
minim  diluted  with  5  minims  of  water. 


SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH  75 

ing  of  organic  debris  and  organisms — chiefly  Bacillus  subtilis, 
Leptothrix  pusilla,  Protococcus,  and  a  few  diatoms  and  flagel- 
late monads,  failed  to  kill  a  rabbit.1 

On  the  other  hand,  injections  of  a  small  quantity  of  surface 
mud  from  the  gutters  of  New  Orleans  during  the  month  of 
September,  1880,  invariably  produced  fatal  results  within  forty- 
eight  hours.     (See  unpublished  report  above  referred  to.) 

Query.  Does  the  saliva  of  other  individuals  injected  in  the 
same  manner  produce  similar  results? 

Answer.  The  saliva  of  four  students,  residents  of  Balti- 
more, (in  March),  gave  negative  results;  eleven  rabbits  in- 
jected with  the  saliva  of  six  individuals  in  Philadelphia,  (in 
January),  gave  eight  deaths  and  three  negative  results;  but 
in  the  fatal  cases,  a  less  degree  of  virulence  was  shown  in  six 
cases  by  a  more  prolonged  period  between  the  date  of  injec- 
tion and  the  date  of  death.  This  was  three  days  in  one,  four 
days  in  four,  and  seven  days  in  one. 

Query.  Is  there  any  recognizable  peculiarity  in  the  saliva 
which  exhibits  the  greatest  degree  of  virulence? 

Answer.  In  the  case  of  Dr.  S.,  whose  saliva  shows  an 
exceptional  virulence,  the  teeth  are  sound,  the  secretions  of  the 
mouth  normal  in  physical  properties  and  reaction,  and  the  gen- 
eral health  good.  There  is,  perhaps,  an  unusual  flow  of  saliva, 
but  no  other  noticeable  peculiarity. 

Query.  Is  there  any  plausible  hypothesis  by  which  this  dif- 
ference in  virulence  can  be  explained  ? 

Answer.  This  question  will  require  for  its  solution  more 
extended  experiments.  In  the  meantime  it  may  be  mentioned, 
as  having  a  possible  bearing  upon  the  subject,  that  Dr.  S.  has 
been  engaged  to  a  considerable  extent,  during  the  past  two 
years,  in  studies  which  have  brought  him  in  contact  with  septic 
material.  Dr.  F.,  of  Philadelphia,  whose  saliva  killed  (after 
a  longer  interval)  two  rabbits,  is  pathologist  to  a  large  hospital, 
and  consequently  is  constantly  brought  in  contact  with  septic 
material.  Mr.  N.  and  Mr.  B.,  whose  saliva  killed  all  the  rabbits 
operated  upon,  (four),  are  residents  of  seaport  towns  in  Cuba.2 

1.  Coze  and  Feltz  found,  as  the  result  of  numerous  experiments, 
that  the  blood  of  healthy  persons,  and  that  of  persons  sick  with  non- 
infectious maladies,  does  not  produce  fatal  results  when  injected  into 
the  subcutaneous  tissue  of  rabbits.  (Clinical  and  Exp.  Researches 
upon  Infectious  Maladies,  8°,  Paris,  1872).  Pasteur  also  has  inocu- 
lated, without  result,  the  saliva  of  asphyxiated  rabbits  and  of  men 
dead  with  common  diseases  (I.e.). 

2.  The  possibility  that  this  septic  condition  of  the  secretions  of  the 
mouth  may  bear  some  relation  to  the  protection  which  these  Cubans 
and  myself  enjoy  against  yellow  fever,  which  is  a  disease  presenting 
many  points  of  resemblance  to  septicaemia,  has  occurred  to  me,  and 
without,  at  present,  laying  any  great  stress  upon  this  possibility,  I 
think  it  worthy  of  further  experimental  considerations. 


76  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Query.  Is  death  produced  in  other  animals  by  the  sub- 
cutaneous injection  of  human  saliva,  which  is  virulent  for 
rabbits  ? 

Answer.  Injection  of  4  c.c.  into  each  of  two  small  dogs  pro- 
duced local  abscesses  at  point  of  injection,  but  no  other  notice- 
able result.1  Injection  of  0.25  c.c.  (each)  into  five  chickens 
produced  no  result.  Injection  of  0.75  c.c.  (each)  into  three 
guinea-pigs  proved  fatal  to  two — one  in  three  and  one  in  seven 
days.  Injection  of  0.5  c.c.  into  five  rats  resulted  fatally  to  one 
only.2 

Query.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  fatal  malady  produced  in 
rabbits  by  the  subcutaneous  injection  of  the  saliva  of  certain 
individuals? 

Answer.  The  course  of  the  disease  and  the  post-mortem 
appearances  indicate  that  it  is  a  form  of  septiccemia.  Imme- 
diately after  the  injection  there  is  a  rise  of  temperature,  which 
in  a  few  hours  may  reach  2°  to  3°  centigrade,  (3.6°  to  5.4° 
Fah.)  ;  the  temperature  subsequently  falls,  and  shortly  before 
death  is  often  several  degrees  below  the  normal.  There  is  loss 
of  appetite  and  marked  debility  after  twenty-four  hours,  and 
the  animal  commonly  dies  during  the  second  night  or  early  in 
the  morning  of  the  second  day  after  the  injection.  Death 
results  still  more  quickly  when  the  blood  from  a  rabbit  recently 
dead,  is  injected.  Not  infrequently  convulsions  immediately 
precede  death. 

The  date  and  mode  of  death  correspond  with  that  reported 
by  Pasteur  in  the  memoir  referred  to.  Two  rabbits  injected 
with  buccal  mucus  from  the  mouth  of  a  child  recently  dead 
with  hydrophobia,  December  11,  were  found  dead  December 
13.  Other  rabbits  inoculated  with  the  blood  and  saliva  of 
these  died  in  still  less  time.  Inoculations  with  fresh  blood 
usually  produced  death  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours. 

The  most  marked  pathological  appearance  is  a  diffuse  inflam- 
matory cedema  or  cellulitis,  extending  in  all  directions  from 
the  point  of  injection,  but  especially  to  the  dependent  portions 
of  the  body.  Occasionally  there  is  a  little  pus  near  the  punc- 
ture, but  usually  death  occurs  before  the  cellulitis  reaches  the 
point  of  producing  pus.  The  subcutaneous  connective  tissue 
contains  a  quantity  of  bloody  serum,  which  possesses  virulent 
properties,   and    which   contains   a    multitude   of   micrococci. 

1.  A  dog  succumbed,  however,  to  an  injection  of  1  c.c.  of  serum 
from  the  subcutaneous  cellular  tissue  of  a  rabbit  recently  dead. 

2.  The  results  obtained  by  me  in  these  experiments  correspond  with 
those  reported  by  Pasteur  in  the  paper  already  referred  to,  viz :  guinea- 
pig  less  susceptible  than  rabbit,  complete  immunity  of  the  chicken, 
and  susceptibility  of  the  dog  to  the  "new  disease"  as  the  result  of 
injections  of  blood  from  dead  rabbits. 


SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH  77 

There  is  usually  more  or  less  inflammatory  adhesion  of  the 
integument  to  the  subjacent  tissues.  The  liver  is  sometimes 
dark  colored  and  gorged  with  blood,  but  more  frequently  is  of 
a  lighter  color  than  normal,  and  contains  much  fat.  The  spleen 
is  either  normal  in  appearance  or  enlarged  and  dark  colored. 
Changes  in  this  organ  are  more  marked  in  those  cases  which 
are  of  the  longest  duration.  In  certain  cases  dark  colored  pig- 
ment has  been  found  in  the  spleen,  resembling  that  which  has 
been  supposed  to  be  characteristic  of  malarial  fever.  The 
blood  is  dark  colored,  usually  fluid,  and  there  is  a  tendency  to 
agglutination  of  the  red  corpuscles. 

The  blood  commonly  contains  an  immense  number  of  micro- 
cocci, usually  joined  in  pairs,  and  having  a  diameter  of  about 
0.5  fi.  These  are  found  in  blood  drawn  from  superficial  veins, 
from  arteries,  and  from  the  cavities  of  the  heart  immediately 
after  death,  and  in  a  few  cases  their  presence  has  been  verified 
during  life ;  observations  thus  far  made  indicate,  however,  that 
it  is  only  during  the  last  hours  of  life  that  these  parasites  multi- 
ply in  the  circulating  fluid,  and  in  a  certain  proportion  of  the 
cases  a  careful  search  has  failed  to  reveal  their  presence  in 
post-mortem  examinations  made  immediately  upon  the  death 
of  the  animal.  This  organism,  however,  is  invariably  found  in 
great  abundance  in  the  serum  which  exudes  in  considerable 
quantities  from  the  oedematous  connective  tissue  when  an 
incision  is  made  through  the  integument  over  any  point 
involved  in  the  inflammatory  oedema  extending  from  the  origi- 
nal puncture. 

A  perusal  of  the  paper  of  Pasteur,  already  referred  to,  has 
induced  me  to  pay  special  attention  in  three  recent  postmor- 
tems to  some  points  to  which  this  author  refers,  which  I  had 
not  noticed  in  previous  examinations,  viz :  to  the  condition  of 
the  trachea,  the  lungs,  and  the  lymphatic  glands  in  the  groins 
and  axilae. 

Pasteur  says,  "The  cellular  tissue  is  almost  always  emphy- 
sematous." (This  has  not  been  observed  to  be  the  case, 
except  to  a  slight  extent  in  one  instance  in  the  rabbits  operated 
upon  by  me.)  "The  lungs  are  frequently  filled  with  noyaux 
of  pulmonary  apoplexy."  (I  have  found  this  to  be  the  case 
in  one  out  of  three  rabbits  examined  since  my  attention  has 
been  directed  to  this  point.)  "A  character  more  constant 
than  the  last  (not  more  constant,  however,  than  that  which 
relates  to  the  volume  and  color  of  the  ganglions),  is  the  state 
of  the  trachea,  which  is  almost  invariably  red,  congested  with 
little  hemorrhages  from  the  smallest  vessels."  (I  have  found 
a  marked  congestion  of  the  vessels  of  the  trachea  in  the  three 
cases  in  which  I  have  examined  it,  and  in  one  case  the  lym- 
phatic glands  of  the  axillae  were  enlarged  and  congested.) 


78  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Query.  What  constituent  of  the  saliva  injected  produces  the 
fatal  malady  in  question? 

Answer.  The  following  facts  demonstrate  that  the 
phenomena  detailed  result  from  the  presence  of  a  living  organ- 
ism found  in  the  saliva — a  micrococcus — which  multiplies 
abundantly  in  the  subcutaneous  connective  tissue,  and  also  in 
the  blood  shortly  before  or  after  death. 

(a)  The  poison  is  particulate.  This  is  proved  by  numerous 
filtration  experiments.  Example:  March  15,  11  a.  m.  Injected 
1  c.c.  of  filtered  saliva  (filtered  through  thin  stratum  of  plaster 
of  Paris,  by  means  of  Sprengel's  pump)  into  left  flank  of 
rabbit  weighing  1  pound,  and  at  the  same  time  one- fourth  the 
quantity  of  unfiltered  saliva  into  a  rabbit  of  the  same  size.  No 
harm  resulted  to  the  first  rabbit,  while  the  second  died  the  fol- 
lowing day,  at  5.30  p.  m. 

(b)  The  virulence  of  the  saliva  is  destroyed  by  boiling. 

(c)  The  saliva  loses  its  virulence  when  kept  for  twenty- 
four  hours  in  a  culture  chamber,  at  a  temperature  of  37° 
centigrade. 

(d)  The  addition  of  one  part  of  a  10  per  cent,  solution  of 
carbolic  acid  to  two  parts  of  saliva  destroys  its  virulence. 

(e)  The  effused  serum  from  the  subcutaneous  connective 
tissue  of  a  rabbit  recently  dead,  produces  death  attended  with 
the  same  phenomena  as  resulted  from  the  infection  of  the  saliva 
in  the  first  instance.  But  this  does  not  contain  epithelial  cells 
or  salivary  corpuscles,  and  we  are,  therefore,  justified  in 
excluding  these  as  possible  agents  in  the  production  of  the 
results  indicated.  Moreover,  these  are  present  at  all  times  in 
the  saliva  of  all  individuals,  while  virulence,  at  least  such  an 
intense  degree  of  virulence,  is  an  exceptional  property  of 
human  saliva. 

(/)   This  serum  loses  its  virulence  by  filtration. 

Unfiltered  serum  from  a  recently  dead  rabbit  has  invariably 
proved  fatal  in  smaller  quantity  and  in  less  time  than  is  re- 
quired by  the  saliva  in  the  first  instance,  showing  an  increase 
of  virulence  as  the  result  of  successive  cultivation  of  the 
organism  in  the  body  of  a  susceptible  animal.  This  corre- 
sponds with  the  results  obtained  by  Davaine,  Koch,  Pasteur, 
and  others.  I  have  not  attempted  to  ascertain  the  minimum 
quantity  which  will  produce  death.  Davaine  says  :  "A  rabbit 
may  be  killed  by  the  %ooo  Part  of  a  drop  of  septic  blood."' 

Note. — The  presence  of  B.  Termo  and  an  odor  of  putrefaction  in 
saliva  kept  for  twenty-four  hours  in  a  culture  chamber  shows  that 
changes  are  occurring  which  have  heretofore  been  recognized  as 
destructive  of  the  septic  poison  (organism),  e.  g.,  the  virulence  of  the 
poison  which  produces  dangerous  dissection  wounds  is  lost  when 
putrefactive  changes  set  in. 


SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH  79 

(Bull,  de  l'Acad.  de  Med.,  2  s.,  t.  viii,  p.  121.)  In  my  nitration 
experiments  I  injected,  however,  quantities  far  in  excess  of  the 
amount  required  to  produce  speedy  death  if  unfiltered  serum 
had  been  employed. 

Example:  March  14.  Injected  2  c.c.  of  filtered  serum 
(from  subcutaneous  connective  tissue  of  rabbit  recently  dead) 
diluted  with  distilled  water  (1  to  20)  without  result,  while 
one-quarter  the  quantity  (0.5  c.c.)  of  the  same  dilution  unfil- 
tered, injected  at  the  same  time  into  another  rabbit,  produced 
death  in  twenty-four  hours. 

(g)  The  micrococcus  present  in  the  serum  from  the  con- 
nective tissue  of  a  rabbit  which  has  succumbed  to  a  sub- 
cutaneous injection  of  saliva,  may  be  cultivated  in  bouillon 
made  from  the  flesh  of  a  healthy  rabbit,  or  in  blood  serum 
from  a  healthy  dog,  and  these  fluids  thereby  acquire  a  viru- 
lence zvhich  they  did  not  have  before. 

My  first  efforts  to  cultivate  the  micrococcus  in  urine,  in 
gelatine  solution,  and  in  bouillon  made  from  the  flesh  of  a 
dog-,  all  proved  ineffectual,  and  these  fluids  after  inoculation 
with  blood  or  serum  from  the  connective  tissue,  showed  a 
temporary  virulence  only,  which  was  doubtless  due  to  the 
presence  of  the  micrococci  introduced,  which  preserved  their 
vitality  for  a  certain  time,  although  the  conditions  were  not 
favorable  for  their  increase.  After  a  few  days  the  first  culture 
lost  its  virulence  and  successive  inoculations  gave  negative 
results,  both  as  to  the  presence  of  the  micrococcus  and  as  to 
noxious  properties  when  injected  into  rabbits. 

(h)  Successive  cultures  in  which  but  a  small  drop  is  taken 
each  time  to  inoculate  a  fresh  quantity  of  bouillon  exclude  the 
ivhite  and  red  blood  corpuscles  (filtration  experiments  have 
already  shown  the  poison  to  be  particulate)  as  possible  agents 
in  the  production  of  this  virulence,  and  prove  conclusively  that 
the  veritable  cause  is  the  presence  of  a  micrococcus,  found  first 
in  the  saliva,  then  in  the  serum  from  the  connective  tissue,  and 
(usually)  in  the  blood  of  the  animal  killed  by  the  injection  of 
saliva,  and  finally  in  each  successive  culture  fluid  inoculated, 
(in  the  first  instance),  with  a  small  quantity  of  this  serum  or 
blood. 

Within  a  few  hours  after  inoculating  sterilized  bouillon 
made  from  the  flesh  of  a  rabbit  (first  tested  for  several  days 
in  a  culture  oven  at  a  temperature  of  37°  cent.)  with  blood,  or 
serum  from  subcutaneous  connective  tissue  of  a  rabbit  recently 
dead,  the  fluid — previously  transparent — becomes  opalescent, 
and  upon  microscopical  examination  is  found  to  contain  innu- 
merable micrococci,  solitary,  in  pairs,  and  in  torula  chains. 
The  same  result  follows  upon  inoculating  a  second  portion 
with  a  minute  drop  from  the  first,  and  so  on.  The  continued 
virulence  of  these  successive  cultures  I  have  amply  proved. 


80  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Example:  April  13.  Injected  1  c.c.  of  bouillon  culture 
No.  6  (six  successive  inoculations,  the  first  with  serum  from 
subcutaneous  connective  tissue  of  rabbit),  into  left  flank  of  a 
large  rabbit.  Result:  The  animal  was  found  dead  on  the 
morning  of  the  16th,  and  presented  the  usual  appearances  upon 
portmortem  examination.  Its  blood  and  the  effused  serum  in 
subcutaneous  connective  tissue  contained,  as  usual,  an  immense 
number  of  micrococci,  like  those  already  described. 

Query.  Does  the  micrococcus  found  under  the  circum- 
stances detailed  differ  from  the  Micrococcus  septicus  of  Cohn, 
and  is  it  identical  with  the  organism  described  by  Pasteur,  as 
present  in  the  blood  of  rabbits  killed  by  the  subcutaneous  injec- 
tion of  the  saliva  of  an  infant  dead  from  hydrophobia,  (I.e.)  ? 

Answer.    Cohn  describes  the  M.  septicus,  as  follows: 

"Little  rounded  cells,  of  0.5/x,  motionless  and  crowded  in 
masses,  or  united  in  chaplets  in  the  secretion  of  wounds  in 
cases  of  septicaemia  (Klebs),  in  zooglcea  in  callous  ulcers,  in 
isolated  cells,  united  in  pairs,  or  in  chaplets  in  the  serum  of 
epidemic  puerperal  fever  (Waldeyer),  in  all  the  tissues,  vessels, 
etc.,  in  cases  of  pyaemia  and  septicaemia."  (Magnin:  The 
Bacteria,  Boston,  Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1880,  p.  76.) 

Pasteur  gives  the  following  description  of  the  micrococcus 
found  by  him  in  the  fatal  disease  described  by  him  as  new, 
and  which  he  evidently  does  not  consider  identical  with 
septicaemia,  a  disease  which  he  had  previously  studied  experi- 
mentally. It  should  be  noticed,  however,  that  Pasteur  recog- 
nizes several  forms  of  septicaemia.    Thus  he  says : 

"And  now  we  see  why  septicaemia  has  so  often  been  con- 
founded with  charbon;  their  causes  are  of  the  same  order;  it 
is  a  vibrio  which  causes  septicaemia  and  a  bacillus  which  pro- 
duces charbon.  *  *  *  Septicaemia  and  putrefaction  in  a 
living  being  are  not  the  same  thing.  There  are  as  many  dif- 
ferent septicemias  as  there  are  different  vibrios.  *  *  *  In 
septicaemia  the  vibrios  do  not  appear  in  the  blood  until  the  last 
thing,  but  in  this  liquid  one  of  them  takes  a  peculiar  aspect, 
often  longer  than  the  diameter  of  the  field  of  the  microscope, 
and  so  transparent  that  it  easily  escapes  observation ;  when, 
however,  it  is  once  perceived  it  is  easily  found  again,  flexible, 
climbing  and  removing  the  blood  globules  as  a  serpent  moves 
the  grass  in  the  bushes,"  etc.  (Charbon  and  septicaemia,  C.  R. 
Ac.  des  Sc,  lxxxv,  101-115.) 

This  septic  vibrio  of  Pasteur  I  found  in  the  blood  of  rab- 
bits, victims  of  my  experiments,  in  New  Orleans  during  the 
past  summer  (Report  to  National  Board  of  Health,  not  yet 
published),  but  have  not  since  met  with  it;  perhaps  because  it 
develops  post  mortem  and  requires  hot  weather  of  summer  for 
its  development.     Whether  it  is  an  independent  organism  or 


SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH  81 

is  developed  under  special  conditions  from  the  Micrococcus 
septicus,  being  an  advanced  phase  in  the  development  of  this 
organism  corresponding  with  the  spore-producing  filaments 
which  have  been  shown  to  constitute  one  phase  in  the  life- 
history  of  Bacillus  anthracis  (Koch)  and  of  Bacterium  termo 
(Ewart),  is  an  interesting  question  for  further  research.  The 
vivid  language  of  Pasteur  describes  it  well,  and  the  wonderful 
vigor  with  which  this  extremely  slender  and  almost  transparent 
organism  thrusts  aside  the  blood  corpuscles  in  its  impetuous 
serpentine  movements  cannot  fail  to  astonish  the  observer. 
The  micrococcus  of  Pasteur's  "new  disease"  is,  on  the  con- 
trary, quite  motionless,  and  is  described  as  follows: 

"This  organism  is  sometimes  so  small  that  it  may  escape  a 
superficial  observation.  Its  form  does  not  differ  from  that  of 
many  other  microscopic  beings.  It  is  an  extremely  short  rod 
a  little  compressed  towards  the  middle,  resembling  a  figure  8, 
and  of  which  the  diameter  of  each  half  often  does  not  exceed 
a  half  a  thousandth  of  a  millimeter  [=0.5/*  and  corresponding 
with  the  diameter  given  by  Cohn  for  the  Micrococcus  septicus, 
also  with  the  micrococcus  observed  by  myself  in  the  form  of 
septicaemia  described  in  this  report].  Each  of  these  little 
particles  is  surrounded  at  a  certain  focus  with  a  sort  of  aureole 
which  corresponds,  perhaps,  to  a  material  substance."  (Note. 
— The  possibility  that  this  appearance  is  due  to  diffraction  is 
considered,  but  Pasteur  inclines  to  the  opinion  that  in  the  case 
in  question  it  is  due  to  a  mucous  substance  which  surrounds 
the  organism.) 

The  foregoing  descriptions  answer  as  well  for  the  micro- 
coccus observed  by  me  as  if  they  had  been  written  especially 
for  it,  and  it  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  say  more  at  present  in 
relation  to  the  morphology  of  this  organism,  which  apparently 
is  identical  with  that  of  the  Micrococcus  septicus  of  Cohn,  and 
with  the  organism  found  by  Pasteur  in  the  "new  disease" 
described  by  him.  Does  it  then  follow  that  the  organisms 
are  identical,  and  that  the  phenomena  related  by  Pasteur,  as 
resulting  from  the  subcutaneous  injection  of  saliva  from  an 
infant  dead  of  hydrophobia,  and  by  myself,  from  saliva  of  a 
healthy  adult,  represent  the  same  disease  ?  By  no  means.  The 
man  of  science  soon  finds  that  things  which  look  alike  are  not 
necessarily  of  the  same  kind.  Thus  of  two  transparent  color- 
less fluids,  one  may  be  harmless  water,  and  the  other  a  cor- 
rosive acid ;  two  embryos  apparently  alike,  may  develop  the 
one  into  a  man  and  the  other  into  a  monkey ;  two  seeds  of  the 
same  size  and  general  appearance,  may  produce  the  one  cab- 
bage, the  other  a  turnip,  etc. 


82  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

The  argument,  then,  that  because  a  certain  bacillus,  or 
spirillum,  or  micrococcus,  is  morphologically  identical  with 
another,  which  is  proved  to  be  harmless  as  to  its  effects  upon 
an  animal  organism,  consequently  it  must  be  harmless,  has  no 
support  from  analogy  any  more  than  it  has  from  experiment. 
And  it  is  high  time  that  naturalists  and  physicians  should  open 
their  eyes  to  the  fallacy  of  such  an  argument,  as  it  not  only 
has  a  tendency  to  close  the  minds  of  those  who  receive  it  to 
the  reception  of  demonstrated  truth,  but  also  acts,  to  some 
extent,  as  a  bar  to  the  progress  of  science  in  this  direction. 
The  argument  is :  Bacteria  are  found  everywhere,  we  eat  them, 
we  drink  them,  we  draw  their  germs  into  our  lungs  at  each 
inspiration  and  without  apparent  injury.  They  are  evidently 
harmless.  Your  spirillum  of  relapsing  fever  does  not  differ 
(the  morphological  resemblance  is  admitted)  from  a  harmless 
spirillum  frequently  found  in  the  human  mouth ;  your  Bacillus 
anthracis  does  not  differ  from  Bacillus  siibtilis,  etc.  The 
answer  is  plain.  The  fact  that  there  are  harmless  bacteria  does 
not  disprove  the  possibility  of  pathogenic  bacteria  ;  the  fact  that 
two  things  look  alike  does  not  prove  that  they  are  alike ;  experi- 
ment proves  conclusively  that  the  phenomena  of  anthrax  are 
due  to  the  presence  and  multiplication  in  the  body  of  the 
affected  animal  of  the  Bacillus  anthracis,  and  that  in  the  fatal 
form  of  septicaemia  described  in  this  report,  the  efficient  cause 
of  the  morbid  phenomena,  and  of  death  is  the  minute  micro- 
coccus described. 

Doubtless,  harmless  micrococci  abound.  Pasteur  finds  no 
difference,  morphologically,  between  the  organism  which  pro- 
duces the  "new  disease"  described  by  him  and  that  which  pro- 
duces the  cholera  dcs  ponies.  He  says :  "By  the  form  which  it 
has  in  the  blood  the  organism  resembles  the  microbe  of  chicken 
cholera,  but  it  differs  completely  in  its  functions.  We  may 
inoculate  fowls  with  it  without  their  experiencing  the  slightest 
ill  effect."  (The  same  is  true  of  the  organism  producing  the 
form  of  septicaemia  described  in  this  paper.) 

"In  the  form  of  chaplets  it  resembles  greatly  many  other 
organisms  which  I  have  often  observed,"  etc. 

It  will  have  been  noticed  from  the  account  already  given  that 
the  fatal  disease  in  rabbits  observed  by  me  and  resulting  from 
the  subcutaneous  injection  of  my  own  saliva  resembles  in  many 
particulars  the  disease  described  by  Pasteur  as  new,  resulting 
from  the  subcutaneous  injection  of  the  saliva  of  a  child  dead 
with  hydrophobia.  Another  point  of  resemblance  is  the  fact 
that  the  saliva  of  one  of  my  rabbits,  recently  dead,  has  the 
same  virulence  as  the  blood  and  serum  from  connective  tissue. 
A  serous  liquid,  which  in  some  instances  escapes  from  the 
bowels  shortly  before  or  after  death,  also  contains  the  micro- 


SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH  83 

coccus  in  abundance  and  possesses  like  virulence.  All  of  these 
points  of  resemblance  form  a  strong  probability  in  favor  of  the 
identity  of  the  two  diseases,  but  I  am  not  prepared  to  pro- 
nounce a  positive  opinion  upon  this  point,  especially  since 
Pasteur,  who  had  previously  given  much  attention  to  the  study 
of  septicaemia,  pronounces  the  disease  observed  by  him  to  be 
new,  while  I  see  no  reason,  at  present,  for  supposing  that  the 
disease  observed  by  me  differs  essentially  from  the  experi- 
mental septicaemia  produced  by  Davaine,  Koch  and  other 
investigators,  who,  however,  obtained  their  first  supply  of 
septic  organisms  from  a  different  source. 

In  the  light  of  what  we  already  know,  it  seems  very  probable 
that  puerperal  fever,  hospital  gangrene,  and  the  various  forms 
of  septicaemia  known  to  physicians  and  surgeons  result  from 
the  development  of  pathogenic  varieties  of  harmless  and 
widely-distributed  species  of  micrococci,  as  the  result  of  espe- 
cially favorable  surroundings,  such  as  are  found  in  the  lochial 
discharges  of  a  puerperal  woman  or  in  the  secretions  from  the 
surface  of  wounds  in  a  crowded  and  illy-ventilated  hospital 
ward. 

Just  as  differences  in  resisting  power  to  experimental 
septicaemia  are  exhibited  by  different  species  of  animals,  so 
doubtless  individual  differences  exist  in  man,  especially  as  the 
result  of  lowered  vitality;  and  this  want  of  resisting  power, 
from  whatever  cause  resulting,  must  be  counted  as  one  of  the 
conditions  favorable  to  the  development  and  propagation  of 
a  pathogenic  bacterium.  Thus  we  find  that  in  experimental 
septicaemia  the  micrococcus  does  not  invade  the  blood  until 
the  vital  powers  are  at  a  low  ebb,  and  death  is  near  at  hand.1 

In  the  dog  the  vital  resistance  is  competent  to  withstand  the 
assaults  of  a  micrococcus — injected  subcutaneously — having  the 
potency  of  those  found  in  my  saliva,  and  the  result  of  such  an 
injection  is  simply  a  circumscribed  abcess.  But  the  increased 
power  (which  is  perhaps  simply  a  more  vigorous  and  rapid 
development)  gained  by  circulation  in  the  body  of  the  rabbit, 
enables  these  organisms  to  overcome  the  resistance  of  the  dog, 
and  a  diffuse  cellulitis  results  of  fatal  character. 

The  fact,  observed  by  myself,  that  during  the  summer 
months  the  mud  in  the  gutters  of  New  Orleans  possesses  an 
extraordinary    degree    of    virulence 2    shows    that   pathogenic 

1.  By  virtue  of  some  property  or  mechanism  at  present  unknown, 
blood,  which  external  to  the  body  is  a  favorable  medium  for  the  devel- 
opment of  many  species  of  bacteria,  resists  their  entrance  or  gets  rid 
of  them  when  they  effect  an  entrance,  e.  g.,  by  injection,  so  long  as  it 
is  circulating  in  the  vessels  of  a  healthy  individual. 

2.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  this  is  peculiar  to  New  Orleans, 
but  I  have  not  yet  had  the  opportunity  to  extend  my  experiments  to 
other  places. 


84  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

varieties  of  bacteria  are  not  alone  bred  in  the  bodies  of  living 
animals.  The  more  I  study  this  subject  the  more  probable  it 
seems  to  me  that  in  this  direction  lies  the  explanation  of  many 
problems  which  have  puzzled  epidemiologists,  and  that  the 
sanitarians  are  right  in  fighting  against  filth  as  a  prime  factor 
in  the  production  of  epidemics — a  factor  of  which  the  role  is 
easily  understood,  if  this  view  is  correct. 

The  presence  of  septic  organisms,  possessing  different  de- 
grees of  virulence  depending  upon  the  abundance  and  kind  of 
pabulum  furnished  them  and  upon  meteorological  conditions 
more  or  less  favorable,  constitutes,  in  my  opinion,  the  epidemic 
constitution  of  the  atmosphere,  which  wise  men  were  wont  to 
speak  of  not  many  years  ago  as  a  cloak  for  ignorance.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  the  gutter  mud  of  to-day,  with  its  deadly 
septic  organisms,  is  the  dust  of  to-morrow,  which  in  respiration 
is  deposited  upon  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  respiratory 
passages  of  those  who  breathe  the  air  loaded  with  it.  Whether 
the  peculiar  poison  of  each  specific  disease  is  of  the  same 
nature  or  not — a  question  which  can  only  be  settled  by 
extended  experimental  investigations  in  the  future — it  is  alto- 
gether probable  that  this  factor  often  gives  a  malignant  char- 
acter to  epidemics  of  diseases  which  uncomplicated,  are  of  a 
comparatively  trivial  nature. 

In  July,  1885,  Dr.  Sternberg  published  a  paper  entitled  "The 
Pneumonia-Coccus  of  Friedlander  {Micrococcus  Pasteuri, 
Sternberg).1  In  this  paper  he  shows  that  the  pneumococcus  of 
Friedlander  is  identical  with  the  organism  discovered  by 
Pasteur  and  himself.    The  paper  begins  as  follows : 

In  this  paper  I  desire  to  call  attention  to  the  so-called 
pneumonia-coccus  of  Friedlander,  which  I  shall  take  the  liberty 
of  naming  Micrococcus  Pasteuri.  My  right  to  name  the  micro- 
coccus discovered  by  Friedlander  in  the  exudate  of  croupous- 
pneumonia  must  depend  upon  my  ability  to  make  good  the 
claim  which  I  here  state,  viz. :  that  the  pneumonia-coccus  of 
this  author  is,  in  fact,  identical  specifically  with  a  micrococcus 
previously  described  by  me,  which  is  found  in  normal  human 
saliva,  and  with  that  found  by  Pasteur  in  the  blood  of  rabbits 
which  had  been  injected  with  the  saliva  of  a  child  who  had 
died  of  hydrophobia  in  one  of  the  Paris  hospitals. 

In  attaching  to  this  micrococcus  the  name  of  the  illustrious 
French  chemist  I  have  no  desire  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of 
the  mistake  he  made  in  supposing  for  a  time  that  it  was  the 
germ  of  hydrophobia.     Having  found  that  this  was  a  mistake, 

1.  Am.  J.  Med.  Sc.  90:106  (July)   1885. 


SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH  85 

he  did  not  fail  to  correct  it;  so  no  doubt  Koch  will  do  if  he 
has  made  a  mistake  in  announcing  his  "comma-bacillus"  as  the 
much  sought  cholera-germ.  It  is  easy  to  make  mistakes  in  this 
field  of  investigation;  easier,  perhaps,  than  to  acknowledge 
them.  And  believing,  as  I  do,  in  human  fallibility,  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  questioning  the  conclusions  of  the  most  illustrious 
workers  in  the  field  of  micro-biology,  if  they  are  in  conflict 
with  my  own  observations.  On  the  other  hand,  if,  upon  fuller 
investigation,  I  am  convinced  that  I  have  been  mistaken  in 
regard  to  this  or  any  other  question,  I  shall  feel  no  hesitation 
in  following  the  example  of  Pasteur  in  making  a  public 
acknowledgment  of  my  error.  At  all  events  the  name  will 
stand  for  the  oval  micrococcus  which  produces  a  fatal  form  of 
septicaemia  in  rabbits,  and  which  is  constantly  present  in  my 
buccal  secretions. 

If  I  am  right  as  to  the  specific  identity  of  this  micrococcus 
with  the  micrococcus  discovered  by  Friedlander  in  the  exudate 
of  croupous-pneumonia,  it  does  not  follow  that  Friedlander  is 
wrong  in  assigning  to  this  organism  an  etiological  role  in  con- 
nection with  this  disease.  This  is  a  question  which  I  will  not 
discuss  at  the  present  time,  as  I  hope  to  make  it  the  subject  of 
experimental  inquiry  at  as  early  a  date  as  practicable. 

In  giving  a  specific  name  to  a  micrococcus  which  I  first 
observed  nearly  five  years  ago,  and  which  I  have  repeatedly 
studied  by  means  of  oil  immersion  objectives — the  one- 
eighteenth  and  one-twelfth  inch  horn.  im.  of  Zeiss — by  the  most 
approved  methods  of  staining  and  cultivation,  and  by  numerous 
experiments  upon  animals,  I  can  scarcely  be  accused  of  undue 
haste.  And,  inasmuch  as  this  is  the  first  micro-organism  which 
I  have  attempted  to  name  among  the  multitude  which  I  have 
encountered  in  the  course  of  my  bacteriological  studies,  I  may 
be  acquitted  of  any  special  proclivity  for  conferring  names 
upon  supposed  "new  species,"  as  is  the  fashion  among  amateur 
naturalists. 

I  have  heretofore  spoken  of  this  particular  micrococcus  as 
"the  micrococcus  of  septicaemia  in  the  rabbit" ;  but,  as  there 
is  more  than  one  form  of  infectious  septicaemia  in  the  rabbit 
known  to  us  by  laboratory  experiments,  each  due  to  a  differ- 
ent micro-organism,  this  term  is  evidently  inexact.  Moreover, 
it  would  indicate  that  this  particular  micrococcus  finds  its 
usual  habitat  in  the  blood  of  rabbits  affected  with  the  form  of 
septicaemia  to  which  it  gives  rise.  This  is  by  no  means  true, 
for  the  organism  in  question  is  widely  distributed,  and  it  is 
only  by  inoculation  experiments  that  the  fact  has  been 
developed  that  it  is  a  pathogenic  species,  as  far  as  rabbits  are 
concerned.  I  made  this  discovery  in  the  summer  of  1880,  quite 
accidentally,  having  injected  a  little  of  my  own  saliva  under 


86  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

the  skin  of  a  rabbit,  as  a  comparative  experiment,  to  ascertain 
whether  a  fluid  supposed  to  be  innocuous  would  give  rise  to 
any  febrile  disturbance.  The  promptly  fatal  result,  and  the 
presence  of  a  multitude  of  oval  organisms  in  the  blood,  at 
once  aroused  my  attention,  and,  as  is  well  known,  I  have  since 
made  numerous  additional  experiments,  at  different  times  and 
places,  and  always  with  the  same  result:  The  animals  die  in 
from  24  to  48  hours ;  they  present  the  same  pathological 
appearances ;  their  blood  is  infectious  in  the  smallest  quantity, 
and  it  contains  vast  numbers  of  the  oval  micrococcus  which  I 
now  name  Micrococcus  Pastcuri. 

Upon  making  sections  of  the  tissues  of  a  rabbit  dead  from 
this  form  of  septicaemia,  the  oval  micrococci  are  found  in  great 
numbers  in  the  capillaries  of  the  various  organs,  as  I  am  pre- 
pared to  show.  Repeatedly  I  have  produced  this  infectious 
disease  in  rabbits  by  injecting  beneath  their  skin  pure  cultures 
of  the  micrococcus  in  question. 

All  this  is  a  matter  of  record,  and  the  experimental  proof  is 
as  definite  as  is  that  offered  by  Koch  in  regard  to  the  fatal 
form  of  septicaemia  in  mice,  which  he  has  so  well  studied,  or 
in  the  better  known  infectious  disease,  anthrax.  Yet,  in  spite 
of  my  detailed  record  of  experiments  made,  of  my  frequent 
repetition  of  these  experiments,  and  of  my  photographs  from 
nature  which  illustrate  my  first  paper,  published  in  1881,  and 
the  article  upon  septicaemia  in  rabbits  in  my  book,  which  was 
published  more  than  a  year  ago,  I  find  in  Klein's  recent  work 
the  following  reference  to  my  experiments : 

"That  saliva  of  the  healthy  dog,  and  of  man  inoculated  sub- 
cutaneously  into  rabbits  sometimes  produces  death  in  these 
animals  (Senator)  had  entirely  escaped  his  (Pasteur's)  notice. 
Sternberg  has  proved  this  in  an  extensive  series  of  experiments. 
His  own  saliva  proved  sometimes  fatal  to  rabbits.  They  die 
of  what  is  called  septicaemia,  and  Sternberg  thinks  it  due  to 
the  micrococci ;  but  this  is  not  to  be  considered  as  proved." 

I  claim  that  the  fact  is  proved,  and  that  the  experimental 
evidence  of  this  has  been  upon  record  for  nearly  four  years, 
and  I  am  prepared  to  repeat  the  experiments,  and  to  demon- 
strate that  such  is  the  case.  I  look  upon  the  fact  that  an  infec- 
tious disease  of  a  lower  animal  may  be  induced  by  inoculation 
with  a  micro-organism  which  is  habitually  found  as  a  harm- 
less parasite  in  the  mouth  of  man,  as  something  more  than  a 
curious  circumstance  to  be  recorded  and  forgotten,  and  as  hav- 
ing an  important  bearing  upon  vital  questions  relating  to  the 
genesis  of  "disease  germs,"  questions  which  are  now  largely 
occupying  the  attention  of  leading  pathologists  in  all  parts  of 
the  world.  But  in  the  discussion  of  these  questions  I  must 
insist  that  experimental  evidence  obtained  on  this  side  of  the 


SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH  87 

Atlantic  is  entitled  to  just  as  much  consideration  as  that  which 
comes  to  us  from  across  the  water.  And,  unless  the  truth  of 
my  detailed  account  of  experiments  made  is  impeached,  I  can 
only  account  for  such  a  verdict  as  that  which  Klein  has 
recorded  in  the  sentence  above  quoted,  upon  the  supposition 
that  he  has  not  read  the  evidence  presented,  or  that  he  is  con- 
trolled by  a  geographical  bias,  unworthy  a  true  student  of 
science,  in  estimating  its  value. 

In  connection  with  this  organism  an  event  which  occurred 
in  Berlin  in  1886  will  be  related  later.     (See  page  93.) 

FORT     MASON 

Aug.  10,  1881,  Dr.  Sternberg  was  ordered  to  report  again 
for  army  duty  at  San  Francisco.  On  arriving  there  he  was 
assigned  to  Fort  Mason,  a  beautiful  post,  where  the  General  in 
command  of  the  Department  of  California,  one  company  of 
artillery,  with  two  company  officers  and  staff  officers,  including 
one  surgeon,  constituted  the  garrison.  Our  quarters  were  in 
a  charming  little  house  on  the  side  of  a  high  bluff,  overlooking 
the  bay,  while  the  post  hospital,  clean  and  bright,  was  just  out- 
side the  garrison. 

After  our  arrival  at  Fort  Mason,  Dr.  Sternberg  was  not  long 
in  establishing  at  his  own  expense  a  laboratory  for  biological 
research.  It  was  here  in  1881  that  he  demonstrated  and  photo- 
graphed the  tubercle  bacillus,  discovered  by  Professor  Koch 
earlier  in  the  same  year.  I  am  informed  on  good  authority 
that  this  was  the  first  demonstration  of  the  organism  in 
America.  The  order  relieving  him  from  his  experimental  work 
in  the  East  might  have  been  so  discouraging  for  many  men 
that  they  would  have  given  up  the  self-imposed  task,  but  such 
was  not  the  case  with  him.  Every  day  after  he  had  completed 
his  rounds  of  post  duties  he  worked  faithfully  in  his  study, 
completing  experiments  already  begun  and  preparing  to  work 
intelligently  on  the  subject  of  preventable  diseases. 

While  our  station  at  Fort  Mason  could  not  be  excelled  any- 
where for  comfort  and  social  advantages,  Dr.  Sternberg  longed 
for  a  more  scientific  atmosphere,  and  Nov.  27,  1883,  addressed 
the  following  letter  to  Surg.-Gen.  Robert  Murray,  U.  S.  Army : 

General: — I  would  respectfully  ask  your  attention  to  the 
following  statements  relating  to  my  future  career  as  a  Medical 
Officer  of  the  U.  S.  Army.     It  is  my  earnest  desire  to  devote 


88  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

my  time  to  scientific  and  literary  work  and  especially  to  micro- 
scopical and  experimental  studies  relating  to  the  etiology  of 
infectious  diseases.  Since  leaving  the  National  Board  of 
Health,  Aug.  23,  1881,  I  have  been  obliged  to  prosecute  my 
experimental  work  at  my  own  expense,  and  to  purchase 
expensive  microscopical  apparatus,  in  order  not  to  drop  out  of 
sight  as  an  investigator,  in  a  field  in  which  I  have  gained  some 
distinction.  And  this  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  apparatus 
of  the  same  kind,  purchased  with  government  money,  has  been 
for  two  years  lying  idle  at  the  Army  Medical  Museum  and 
also  in  the  hands  of  the  National  Board  of  Health. 

With  the  experience  and  special  training  I  now  have  and 
with  proper  facilities  I  think  I  could  cultivate  this  field  still 
more  successfully  in  future  and  I  am  sanguine  that  I  could 
by  such  labors  accomplish  more  for  humanity,  for  the  credit 
of  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  Army,  and  for  my  own  reputa- 
tion than  by  continuing  to  perform  the  routine  duties  of  an 
Army  Surgeon.  But  I  am  satisfied  that  it  is  useless  to  con- 
tinue my  attempts  in  this  direction,  at  a  post  remote  from  the 
centers  of  learning  and  without  encouragement  and  material 
assistance  from  some  source. 

I  find  also  that  I  labor  under  great  difficulties  in  prosecuting 
the  literary  work  which  I  have  undertaken  on  account  of  my 
remoteness  from  libraries  and  from  my  publishers.  I  have 
recently  been  obliged  to  spend  much  time  and  money  in  a 
trip  from  San  Francisco  to  Washington  made  mainly  for  the 
purpose  of  availing  myself  for  a  few  days  of  the  use  of  the 
Library  of  the  Surgeon  General's  Office.  I  would  further 
respectfully  represent  that  my  Army  service  has  been  mostly 
at  remote  posts ;  that  I  have  seen  my  full  share  of  epidemics 
and  Indian  wars ;  that  I  have  had  but  one  brief  tour  of  duty  in 
the  East  (1870-1872)  ;  that  this  was  broken  by  three  changes 
of  station  and  an  epidemic  of  yellow  fever,  that  when  I 
accepted  a  detail  as  a  member  of  the  Havana  Yellow  Fever 
Commission  I  made  considerable  sacrifices,  and  enlisted  in 
the  cause  of  scientific  research ;  that  my  tour  of  duty  with  the 
National  Board  of  Health  ought  not  to  have  been  counted 
against  me  as  Eastern  service  as  I  spent  the  first  summer  in 
Havana  and  the  second  in  New  Orleans  and  I  was  only  in 
Washington  during  the  winter  months  for  the  purpose  of  writ- 
ing my  reports  and  recuperating  my  strength. 

I  would  further  respectfully  represent  that  two  positions, 
which  I  have  felt  that  I  had  some  claim  to,  have  been  filled 
by  the  detail  of  officers  junior  to  me  in  the  service  and  both 
of  whom  had  just  served  a  tour  of  duty  in  the  East.  I  refer 
to  the  position  of  Curator  of  the  Army  Medical  Museum  and 
to  that  of  member  of  the  National  Board  of  Health.  Either 
of  these  details  would  enable  me  to  pursue  my  microscopical 


SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH  89 

and  experimental  studies  and  to  continue  my  literary  labors 
under  favorable  circumstances. 

I  take  the  liberty  of  transmitting  herewith  a  partial  list  of 
my  contributions  to  etiology,  taken  from  the  bibliography  of 
my  work  on  "Bacteria"  to  be  published  shortly.  Also  a  few 
letters  and  press  notices  selected  from  a  large  number  received 
which  indicate  that  my  efforts  to  accomplish  something  for  the 
advancement  of  science  and  creditable  to  the  Medical  Corps 
of  the  Army  have  not  been  entirely  unsuccessful. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Geo.  M.  Sternberg, 
Major  and  Surgeon,  U.  S.  Army. 

DEPARTMENT     OF     THE     EAST 

An  order  came  in  April,  1884,  transferring  Dr.  Sternberg 
to  the  Department  of  the  East  and  we  were  again  obliged  to 
dispose  of  our  household  belongings  at  the  auction  rooms.  The 
government  at  that  time  supplied  to  officers  nothing  in  the  way 
of  furniture ;  the  Quartermaster  loaned  us  a  kitchen  range  and 
some  cooking  utensils,  for  the  return  of  which  we  were 
responsible.  Crossing  the  continent  was  no  longer  a  novelty 
to  us,  but  we  took  considerable  interest  in  drawing  comparisons 
between  conditions  on  this  trip  and  on  those  we  had  previously 
made.  The  railroad  had  made  great  strides  and  we  found 
the  new  dining  car  service  a  great  improvement  on  the  eating 
stations  of  earlier  days.  Many  little  towns  were  springing  up 
near  the  railroad,  marking  the  advance  of  civilization  across 
the  plains.  The  immense  herds  of  wild  animals  that  formerly 
roamed  at  will  were  almost  annihilated.  Whereas  in  Western 
Kansas,  in  the  Indian  Territory  and  elsewhere,  there  were  in 
the  sixties  such  great  numbers  of  buffalo  that  they  blocked 
the  railroads,  we  now  saw  only  small  bands.  Immense  num- 
bers had  been  slaughtered  for  the  skins  alone,  or  for  the 
tongues,  as  these  were  considered  a  great  delicacy.  The  work 
of  extermination  had  been  carried  forward  on  such  a  scale 
that  men  had  acquired  wealth  by  gathering  the  bones  and  horns 
from' the  plains  for  shipment  to  the  East.  The  buffalo,  self- 
supporting  on  the  grass  of  the  unclaimed  prairie,  deserved 
a  better  fate,  more  especially  as  the  red  man  drew  largely 
upon  him  for  subsistence.  I  recalled  the  buffalo  hunts  of  the 
past,  in  one  of  which  I  had  participated. 


90  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

We  marveled,  too,  at  the  disappearance  of  the  bands  of 
antelope  which  formerly  were  to  be  seen  in  great  numbers. 
These  were  for  me  very  interesting  animals,  very  graceful  and 
beautiful.  They  had  once  served  as  pets  at  frontier  cabins 
and  could  often  be  found  in  small  numbers  grazing  in  out  of 
the  way  places.  I  have  heard  men  who  have  hunted  the  ante- 
lope say  that  they  are  very  inquisitive  and  guileless  and  could 
be  induced  to  come  quite  near  to  a  sportsman  by  the  "wig- 
wagging" of  a  pocket  handkerchief.  When  plentiful  they 
were  much  hunted  because  of  their  delicious  meat,  by  many 
considered  the  finest  game  of  the  plains. 

Space  will  not  permit  me  to  dwell  on  these  scenes,  but  I 
cannot  resist  relating  a  very  touching  incident  of  our  journey. 
One  night  near  midnight  as  we  were  rushing  along  over  the 
mountains  on  the  Central  Pacific  R.  R.  a  porter  came  with  a 
gentleman  from  another  car  to  speak  to  Dr.  Sternberg.  The 
gentleman  apologized,  saying  his  wife  was  very  ill,  and  would 
the  doctor  please  see  her.  Dr.  Sternberg  found  her  in  a  very 
advanced  stage  of  tuberculosis  and  suffering  from  uncertain 
heart  action  caused  by  the  mountain  altitude.  She  begged  and 
implored  him  not  to  let  her  die,  that  she  must  live  to  see  her 
children  once  more.  Dr.  Sternberg  was  naturally  greatly 
touched  by  her  appeal,  and  he  stayed  some  time  with  her  to 
observe  the  effect  of  the  medicine  he  had  administered  and  to 
encourage  her.  When  we  arrived  at  the  station  where  we 
were  obliged  to  change  cars,  the  invalid  chair  had  failed  to 
arrive  for  her,  although  it  had  been  telegraphed  for  some  time 
before.  She  became  very  much  excited  and  said :  "If  I  miss 
a  train  I  will  never  see  my  home  and  my  darling  children." 
Dr.  Sternberg  said :  "You  shall  not  miss  a  train ;  I  will  have 
the  men  carry  you  in  a  blanket  as  we  sometimes  do  wounded 
soldiers  on  the  battle  field."  This  they  finally  had  to  do,  as 
the  chair  did  not  arrive  when  the  train  was  ready  to  start. 
We  took  another  route  from  that  station,  but  the  husband 
wrote  us  later  that  she  reached  home  just  in  time  to  see  her 
children  and  bid  them  good-bye. 

ATTENDING     SURGEON     AT     BALTIMORE 

Shortly  after  our  arrival  in  the  East,  Dr.  Sternberg  was 
detailed  as  Attending  Surgeon  and  Examiner  of  Recruits  at 
Baltimore.    A  journey  of  one  hour  from  Washington  brought 


SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH  91 

us  to  that  city.  We  rented  a  prettily  furnished  house  and  as 
I  was  fortunate  in  my  domestic  arrangements  our  new  home 
was  most  enjoyable.  Baltimore  is  a  charming  city  with  excel- 
lent libraries,  good  universities,  and  a  fine  school  for  training 
in  classical  music  (Peabody  Institute),  which  has  served  to 
educate  the  citizens  generally  in  a  demand  for  a  higher  class 
of  music.  Science  is  well  supported.  The  Johns  Hopkins 
University  is  a  mecca  for  students  and  advanced  workers  in 
the  sciences,  higher  education,  and  medicine. 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  pleased  with  his  detail,  since  it  gave  him 
opportunity  to  do  experimental  work  for  the  National  Board 
of  Health.  His  orders  from  the  Surgeon-General's  Office 
enabled  him  to  do  his  Army  duty  in  a  satisfactory  manner, 
and  still  have  time  and  energy  to  devote  to  research.  I  went 
frequently  to  the  laboratory ;  he  had  little  or  no  assistance,  and 
I  tried  to  make  myself  useful,  for  with  a  little  instruction  I 
had  learned  to  make  bouillon  and  other  bacteriologic  media. 

As  a  source  of  relaxation  we  attended  (in  the  late  afternoons) 
a  course  of  lectures  on  French  literature  by  Professor  Rabillion, 
at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University.  This  gifted  man  made  his 
subjects  so  entertaining  and  instructive  that  we  always  retained 
our  interest  in  the  French  language  and  literature.  I  had  also 
accepted  an  invitation  to  join  a  class  for  the  study  of  the  his- 
tory of  art,  the  principal  organizer  and  instructor  of  which 
was  Miss  Jane  Addams,  now  known  throughout  our  continent 
for  sociologic  work  as  exemplified  at  Hull  House,  Chicago. 

In  1885  Dr.  Sternberg  was  sent  as  a  delegate  from  the 
United  States  to  the  International  Sanitary  Conference  in 
Rome.  Friendships  were  there  formed  that  continued  through 
years  of  correspondence,  and  were  revived  at  subsequent  inter- 
national scientific  congresses.  He  translated  the  transactions, 
as  they  were  in  French.  He  was  made  an  honorary  member 
of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Medicine  of  Rome  and  a  certificate 
was  transmitted  to  him  through  the  Secretary  of  War,  William 
C.  Endicott. 

After  his  return  from  the  conference  in  March,  1885,  Dr. 
Sternberg  demonstrated  for  the  first  time  in  America  at  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University  the  living  motile  Plasmodium  of 
malaria  discovered  by  Laveran  in  1880.  The  demonstra- 
tion was  made  from  freshly  drawn  blood  of  a  patient  suffering 


92  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

from  malarial  fever  and  the  ameboid  movements  of  the  Plas- 
modium in  the  interior  of  the  red  blood  corpuscles  were  plainly 
visible.  In  the  next  year  he  introduced  the  bacillus  of  typhoid 
fever  to  the  American  medical  profession  in  a  paper  presented 
to  the  Association  of  American  Physicians.  Every  day  of  his 
life  at  this  time  was  full  of  scientific  work  and  his  brain  was 
very  active  planning  new  experiments.  He  was  still  engaged 
on  his  study  of  chemical  and  physical  disinfectants.  In 
addition  he  did  a  vast  amount  of  professional  reading,  and 
kept  posted  on  the  best  French,  German  and  English  medical 
and  scientific  literature.  He  was  a  frequent  contributor  to 
medical  and  scientific  periodicals,  and  some  one  has  truly  said 
of  him  that  "his  writings  were  pen  pictures  of  his  results  in 
his  laboratory." 

In  1886  we  made  a  trip  to  Berlin  in  order  that  Dr.  Stern- 
berg might  have  the  opportunity  of  knowing  personally 
Professor  Koch  and  perhaps  also  do  some  work  in  Koch's 
laboratory.  On  our  arrival  there  we  stopped  at  "The  Kaiser- 
hof,"  a  fine  large  hotel.  When  the  United  States  consul 
returned  Dr.  Sternberg's  visit,  he  was  most  cordial  in  his  greet- 
ing and  showed  interest  in  the  purpose  of  our  coming.  But 
before  leaving  he  advised  us  not  to  remain  long  at  this  hotel : 
"You  will  be  shoveling  money  out  of  the  window  and  you  can 
be  more  comfortable  and  it  will  be  more  convenient  for  Mrs. 
Sternberg  to  be  at  a  Pension."  He  gave  us  the  address  of  the 
widow  of  an  army  officer  who  took  a  few  persons  into  her 
pleasant  home.  We  found  the  house  delightfully  situated,  and 
were  pleased  with  the  refined  manner  of  the  Frau.  The  rooms 
were  so  attractive  that  we  arranged  at  once  to  board  with 
her,  a  most  fortunate  decision  for  me. 

As  soon  as 'we  had  gone  through  the  formality  of  leaving 
cards,  our  friends  and  new  acquaintances  began  to  call,  Pro- 
fessor Koch  and  his  first  assistant  among  the  earliest.  While 
Dr.  Sternberg  was  working  hard  in  a  laboratory,  I  visited  the 
historic  spots  and  the  picture  galleries,  in  fact,  everything  that 
made  Berlin  so  attractive.  One  day  about  11  a.  m.,  as  we 
were  on  the  street  on  which  the  imperial  palace  fronts,  we  saw 
a  very  large  crowd  of  people  gazing  in  one  direction.  They 
were  looking  on  the  distinguished  old  Emperor  William,  who 


SCIENTIFIC    RESEARCH  93 

appeared  every  day  at  a  fixed  hour  at  a  certain  window  to 
show  his  interest  in  the  devoted  people. 

It  was  during  this  visit  to  Berlin  that  an  event  occurred  to 
which  I  have  already  alluded  in  connection  with  the  micro- 
coccus of  croupous  pneumonia.  While  working  in  Koch's 
laboratory,  this  distinguished  investigator  naturally  referred 
to  Dr.  Sternberg's  discovery  and  the  fact  that  he  had  first 
found  the  organism  in  his  own  mouth.  Dr.  Sternberg  vol- 
unteered to  demonstrate  the  germ  from  his  saliva  during  his 
stay.  On  his  return  from  the  laboratory  he  was  somewhat 
absorbed  in  thought  and  when,  early  the  next  morning,  I 
asked  him  the  reason  for  his  anxious  expression,  he  confided 
to  me  the  promise  made  on  the  preceding  day.  "How  dread- 
fully I  would  feel,"  he  said,  "if  I  have  lost  that  germ  in  the 
meantime  from  my  mouth  and  could  not  demonstrate  a  thing 
that  I  have  written  and  talked  so  much  about."  But  when 
the  demonstration  was  attempted  in  Dr.  Koch's  laboratory  it 
was  most  satisfactory,  and  a  clean  proof  was  recorded  in  favor 
of  Dr.  Sternberg's  previous  claims. 

LOMB     PRIZE     AWARD 

Returning  from  this  trip  to  Europe,  Dr.  Sternberg  was 
informed  by  the  health  officer  of  the  port  of  New  York  that 
he  had  won  the  "Lomb  Prize"  for  his  long  and  faithful  work 
on  the  practical  value  of  disinfectants.  These  experiments, 
begun  in  1878  at  Walla  Walla,  Washington,  were  continued 
in  Washington,  D.  C,  and  were  completed  in  the  laboratory  of 
the  Johns  Hopkins  University.  They  were  the  culmination  of 
studies  undertaken  as  chairman  of  a  committee  of  the  Amer- 
ican Public  Health  Association  which  had  made  an  appropria- 
tion for  such  investigations.  The  results  were  published  in 
full  in  the  transactions  of  the  Association  for  1888,  and  at  the 
request  of  Mr.  Lomb,  the  essay  was  revised  in  1889.  It  was 
subsequently  translated  into  several  foreign  languages.  The 
scientific  standardization  of  disinfectants  and  practical  meas- 
ures of  disinfection  in  this  country  and  abroad  were  largely 
based  on  the  results  obtained  in  these  investigations. 


CHAPTER    NINE 
YELLOW     FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS 

Dr.  Sternberg  learned  that  he  was  expected  to  do  more 
experimental  work  in  South  American  countries  for  the  Fed- 
eral Government  and  in  the  early  part  of  1887  we  gave  up  our 
Baltimore  house  in  preparation  for  other  duties.  Unfortun- 
ately, in  my  judgment  at  least,  the  prospective  scientific  expedi- 
tion to  Brazil  and  Mexico  had  for  its  purpose  the  verifica- 
tion or  refutation  of  certain  alleged  discoveries  relating  to 
yellow  fever.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  many  demands  on  Dr. 
Sternberg  to  investigate  the  claims  of  others  to  scientific  dis- 
coveries, he  would  have  been  able  to  concentrate  his  ability 
and  energy  in  developing  more  important  work  of  his  own. 
However,  these  control  experiments  were  quite  important  in 
blazing  the  trail  for  future  investigations,  and  as  he  was  at 
that  time  better  prepared  than  others  for  this  work,  he  will- 
ingly undertook  the  task. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Public  Health  Asso- 
ciation in  Washington  in  1885,  resolutions  had  been  adopted 
requesting  the  appointment  by  the  Federal  Government  of  a 
commission  for  the  investigation  of  the  merits  of  certain 
protective  inoculations  against  yellow  fever,  then  practiced  in 
Brazil  and  Mexico.  The  appropriation  measures  failed  in 
Congress  until  1887,  when,  through  exertions  of  Hon.  H.  C. 
Davis  of  Massachusetts  and  the  Louisiana  delegation,  a  fund 
was  made  available.  The  President  designated  Dr.  Sternberg 
to  carry  out  the  investigations.  By  special  order  of  the  War 
Department  he  was  directed  to  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  through  whom  he  received  from  President  Cleve- 
land detailed  instructions  dated  April  28,  1887. 

Sir : — Referring  to  the  Act  providing  for  .  .  .  investi- 
gating the  merits  of  the  methods  practiced  in  Mexico  and 
Brazil  for  preventing  yellow  fever  by  inoculation.  You  are 
hereby  directed  under  the  authority  of  said  act  to  proceed  to 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  where  you  will  collate  the  documentary  and 
other  evidence  of  the  experiments  of  Dr.  Freire. 

First.  The  source  from  which  the  culture  supply  is  secured, 
which  will  involve : 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  95 

(a)  The  examination  of  the  alleged  germ  as  shown  you  by 
those  engaged  in  the  business  of  inoculation. 

(b)  Verification  of  the  cultivation  and  process  of  attenua- 
tion adopted. 

Second.  The  methods  of  the  inoculation  which  you  will  see 
verified,  if  possible,  on  actual  cases. 

Third.  You  will  report  your  opinion  on  the  results  attained 
by  the  process  after  a  careful  examination  of  the  cases  which 
have  previously  been  subjected  to  inoculation.  In  forming 
your  judgment  of  these  results  you  will  take  into  considera- 
tion the  following  points : 

(a)  Personal  characteristics  of  the  patient,  age,  race,  nativ- 
ity, sex,  previous  susceptibility. 

(b)  The  period  since  last  inoculated,  number  of  times 
exposed  to  contagion. 

Having  completed  this  study,  you  will  then  proceed  to 
Mexico  by  the  shortest  and  most  practical  route  and  investi- 
gate in  the  same  manner  the  method  of  inoculation  practiced 
by  Dr.  Carmona  y  Valle,  and  the  same  method  will  be  observed 
in  conducting  the  investigation. 

While  your  attention  is  directed  specifically  to  these  points 
and  details  with  the  expectation  that  they  will  be  carefully 
kept  in  view  and  adopted  for  your  guidance,  they  are  not 
intended  to  exclude  such  additional  methods  and  means  of 
investigation  as  your  judgment  may  approve  in  the  thorough 
and  careful  accomplishment  of  the  purpose  of  your  mission. 

In  order  that  every  facility  may  be  afforded  you  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  work,  you  will  make  known  your  errand  to 
the  United  States  Minister  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  to  the  United 
States  Minister  at  the  City  of  Mexico,  respectively,  and  request 
them  to  use  their  influence  in  procuring  such  access  to  the 
hospitals,  and  such  other  sources  of  information  as  you  may 
desire. 

It  is  expected  that  your  investigation  will  be  completed  by 
the  1st  of  October.  Grover  Cleveland. 

In  connection  with  these  orders  it  may  be  well  to  state  that 
Dr.  Sternberg  was  not  consulted  in  reference  to  the  date  of 
departure,  or  as  to  the  time  he  might  consider  necessary  to 
complete  the  investigations  with  which  he  had  been  charged. 
For  the  information  of  those  who  knew  him  not  I  beg  leave 
to  quote  from  the  preface  of  his  report *  made  in  1889 : 

1.  Annual  Report  of  the  Supervising  Surgeon-General  of  the  Marine 
Hospital  Service,  Washington,  1889,  p.  139. 


96  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Having  for  some  years  been  deeply  interested  in  questions 
relating  to  the  etiology  and  prophylaxis  of  infectious  diseases, 
and  particularly  of  yellow  fever,  the  writer  was  glad  to  under- 
take the  investigation  to  which  the  following  report  relates, 
especially  as  it  would  give  him  a  long-sought  opportunity  to 
supplement  observations  made  in  Havana  in  1879,  by  addi- 
tional experiments  made  by  methods  which  have  been  per- 
fected since  that  date.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  pub- 
lished works  of  Dr.  Freire  in  Brazil  and  of  Dr.  Carmona  y 
Valle  in  Mexico  did  not  impress  him  with  much  confidence 
as  regards  the  scientific  value  of  the  alleged  discoveries  made 
by  these  gentlemen ;  but  while  it  was  evident  from  their  writings 
that  they  had  fallen  into  gross  errors,  the  possibility  remained 
that  there  was  a  germ  of  truth  in  the  background.  The  pub- 
lished statistics  of  Dr.  Freire,  especially,  were  so  favorable 
to  his  claim  that  he  had  discovered  a  method  of  prophylaxis 
by  inoculation  that  a  critical  examination  upon  the  spot  was 
evidently  the  only  way  of  ascertaining  the  exact  value  which 
should  be  accorded  to  these  statistics. 

It  is  always  an  ungrateful  task  to  criticise  the  work  of  those 
who  have  earnestly  and  conscientiously  sought  to  elucidate 
unsettled  questions  in  science,  and  especially  so  when  the  object 
in  view  is  the  amelioration  of  human  suffering.  It  would  have 
been  extremely  gratifying  to  the  writer  if  he  had  been  able 
to  announce  as  a  result  of  his  investigations  that  the  specific 
germ  of  yellow  fever  has  been  discovered  in  Brazil,  or  in 
Mexico,  and  that  a  reliable  method  of  prophylaxis  by  inocula- 
tion is  now  successfully  practiced  in  one  or  the  other  of  these 
countries.  Such  a  report  would  be  easily  written  and  gladly 
received  by  the  medical  profession  in  this  country  and  in 
Europe,  but  unfortunately  I  am  unable  to  make  a  favorable 
report,  and  to  sustain  a  negative  and  show  wherein  these 
gentlemen  above  named  have  in  my  opinion  been  mistaken, 
calls  for  an  elaborate  and  extended  statement  of  facts,  which 
I  am  aware  will  have  but  little  interest  for  a  majority  of  the 
profession ;  but  those  who  do  take  the  pains  to  read  it  will 
find,  I  trust,  that  I  have  fully  sustained  the  position  taken, 
and  for  those  who  in  future  may  undertake  to  elucidate  the 
unsettled  questions  relating  to  the  etiology  of  yellow  fever, 
the  report  will  be  found,  I  believe,  a  useful  beacon,  showing 
the  rocks  and  quicksands  in  the  way  of  investigators  in  this 
field  of  science,  and  the  absolute  importance  of  proper  train- 
ing and  familiarity  with  modern  methods,  and  with  the  results 
of  the  most  recent  researches,  before  entering  upon  a  path  in 
which  so  many  pioneers  have  gone  astray. 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  97 

JOURNEY     TO     RIO     DE     JANEIRO 

In  compliance  with  instructions  we  sailed  for  Rio  de  Janiero 
on  the  S.S.  Alliance,  May  4,  1887.  Dr.  Sternberg  had 
equipped  himself  with  a  complete  field  outfit  for  bacteriologic 
investigation.  The  first  port  we  made  was  St.  Thomas,  the 
island  recently  purchased  from  Denmark.  Here  our  ship  was 
coaled  by  negro  women,  who  chanted  a  weird  song  while  per- 
forming their  arduous  labor.  The  passengers  amused  them- 
selves by  tossing  small  silver  coins  into  the  water,  for  the 
benefit  of  negro  boys  who  would  dive  in  the  deep  clear  water 
and  bob  up  again  with  the  coin  between  their  ivory  teeth.  On 
the  shore,  a  cemetery  marked  the  spot  where  lay  buried  a  num- 
ber of  Moravian  ministers,  good  men  who  had  come  in  response 
to  the  call  to  preach  the  doctrine  of  love  and  peace.  All  had 
succumbed  to  yellow  fever  and  the  white  marble  slabs  told 
their  silent  story  to  those  who  visited  this  lonely  island.  We 
drove  over  a  good  shell  road  into  the  country  and  we  there 
gathered  from  a  tree  our  first  green  calabash.  Later  we 
became  very  familiar  with  this  member  of  the  gourd  family, 
so  useful  to  tropical  residents  for  various  household  con- 
tainers. 

South  from  St.  Thomas  we  sailed  near  enough  to  get  a  view 
of  several  of  the  neighboring  islands,  and  passed  some  drifting 
wreckage.  Our  next  port  was  Barbadoes,  an  inviting  island, 
the  center  of  a  great  sugar  industry.  We  here  became 
acquainted  with  some  beautiful  varieties  of  tropical  trees, 
especially  the  bread-fruit,  which  plays  quite  a  part  in  the  sus- 
tenance of  residents  of  the  tropics.  We  were  offered  delicious 
preserves  made  from  the  tamarind  and  the  orange  and  other 
tropical  fruits,  and  on  every  street  we  could  purchase  quan- 
tities of  highly  perfumed  flowers,  for  many  species  which  are 
cultivated  in  our  Southern  states  here  grow  in  profusion.  It 
was  to  us  a  novelty  to  hear  the  Negroes  speak  English  with  the 
English  accent,  a  natural  occurrence  to  be  sure,  since  this  island 
is  one  of  the  British  possessions. 

After  a  long  journey,  we  were  greatly  relieved  when  we 
sighted  the  island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon  River.  It  was 
some  time  before  we  could  realize  we  were  sailing  on  a  river, 
for  the  banks  of  the  Amazon  were  so  distant  we  could  not 
observe  even  the  line  of  demarcation.     The  Alliance  was  on 


98  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

her  way  to  the  city  of  Para,  more  than  100  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  Dr.  Sternberg  informed  me  that  I  could 
not  go  on  shore  in  port,  as  that  city  was  known  to  be  badly 
infected  at  all  seasons  with  yellow  fever.  Others  were  also 
advised  that  it  would  be  safer  for  them  to  remain  on  the  ship, 
and  nearly  all  the  first  cabin  passengers  did  so.  Two  hand- 
some German  women  in  the  second  cabin  went  for  a  stroll 
through  the  city  and  returned  quite  early.  Before  we  reached 
Rio  both  were  attacked  with  a  severe  form  of  yellow  fever. 
The  ship's  surgeon  said  if  they  had  gone  on  shore  to  contract 
the  disease  purposely  it  could  not  have  developed  more 
promptly. 

The  agents  of  the  ship  owners  invited  a  limited  number  of 
the  cabin  passengers,  including  Dr.  Sternberg  and  myself  for 
a  cruise  on  the  Amazon,  and  an  inspection  of  a  rubber  depot. 
We  sailed  into  a  bayou  and  were  invited  to  go  ashore  to  visit  a 
plantation  where  the  blacks  were  at  work  gathering  rubber 
juice.  A  few  steps  brought  us  immediately  into  an  almost 
impenetrable  thicket  of  rubber  trees,  with  vines  growing 
rampant  over  every  shrub  and  small  tree.  The  black  men 
preceded  with  machetes  and  cut  away  the  vines  and  shrubs 
to  make  a  path.  The  process  of  gathering  caoutchouc  is  an 
interesting  one.  With  a  sharp  knife,  unlike  any  I  had  ever 
seen,  swinging  from  a  wooden  handle,  an  incision  is  quickly 
made  through  the  bark  of  the  tree.  A  small  clay  cup  is  made 
to  adhere  to  the  tree  just  under  the  incision  by  a  piece  of  wet, 
sticky  clay,  in  order  to  collect  the  juice.  A  tree  that  gives  a  run 
of  a  gill  a  day  is  considered  a  good  producer.  The  flow  of  the 
rubber  ceases  by  11  o'clock  in  the  morning,  but  the  trees  are 
repeatedly  tapped  on  successive  days.  The  juice,  which  in  its 
natural  state  resembles  condensed  milk,  is  collected  in  a  large 
calabash  and  is  taken  to  a  cabin  for  inspissation.  A  large  fire- 
place and  hearth,  a  wooden  paddle  with  a  long  handle,  and  a 
terra  cotta  jar  from  which  the  bottom  has  previously  been 
broken,  form  the  equipment  for  this  process.  A  fire  is  made  on 
the  hearth  with  nuts  gathered  in  the  nearby  forest.  The  long- 
necked  jar  is  placed  over  the  fire,  the  rubber  is  poured  gently 
over  the  wooden  paddle,  which  is  constantly  turned  over  the 
opening  of  the  jar.  On  the  paddle  are  coagulated  and  smoked 
remnants  of  the  run  of  the  day  before.    The  smoke  from  the 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  99 

nut-fire  keeps  the  rubber  from  becoming  acid,  and  the  heat 
inspissates  the  juice.  When  the  mass  on  the  paddle  amounts  to 
about  five  pounds  it  is  cut  off  in  a  round  shape.  It  is  now 
almost  black  from  the  smoking  process,  and  is  considered  ready 
to  send  to  market  as  caoutchouc.  The  estimated  value  of  the 
export  of  this  product  at  that  date  was  given  as  five  millions 
of  dollars  per  annum. 

Our  ship  carried  the  mail  and  hence  we  were  obliged  to 
communicate  with  many  of  the  cities  on  our  way  down  the 
coast  of  Brazil.  Our  next  stop  was  at  Ceara,  the  land  of  dis- 
tressing droughts.  In  this  region  maneoca  is  largely  cultivated 
and  much  used  for  sustenance.  Pernambuco,  which  had  been 
developed  under  the  original  Dutch  occupation,  was  chiefly  of 
interest  because  of  its  remarkable  breakwater  by  which 
engineers  had  secured  a  permanent  harbor.  Pernambuco  and 
Bahia  are  sister  capitals  of  old  Brazil,  and  both  are  rich  in 
beautiful  well  shaded  streets  and  parks. 

At  Bahia  a  steep  incline  leads  from  the  harbor  to  the  city 
proper.  I  was  not  aware  that  a  large  elevator  is  provided  to 
lift  the  passengers  to  the  upper  level,  and  so  I  missed  a  visit 
to  this  city.  For  about  200  years  Bahia  was  the  seat  of  the 
colonial  government,  and  with  proper  management  it  should 
take  a  prominent  place  among  the  cities  of  the  South.  It  is 
the  original  home  of  the  seedless  orange,  and  one  finds  here 
rare  fruits  not  seen  anywhere  else  in  the  world,  for  they  are 
too  delicate  when  ripe  to  bear  shipping.  One  of  our  fellow 
passengers  was  a  wealthy  planter  from  one  of  the  southern 
provinces  of  Brazil.  He  had  seen  much  of  his  own  country, 
and  Dr.  Sternberg  found  him  interesting  and  well  informed. 
He  gave  us  information  in  regard  to  very  many  local  situa- 
tions, which  helped  us  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  the  country  and 
the  people.  But,  after  all,  our  main  interest  was  in  reaching 
Rio,  and  Dr.  Sternberg  was  growing  somewhat  nervous  for 
fear  the  two  cases  of  yellow  fever  on  board  might  cause  the 
ship  to  be  quarantined.  This  would  have  been  a  catastrophe 
as  the  time  specified  for  his  investigation  was  very  limited. 
Much  to  our  surprise,  when  we  reached  Rio  de  Janeiro  the  two 
German  women  walked  with  others  off  the  ship.     Dr.  Stern- 


100  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

berg  was  fearful  they  would  have  a  relapse,  but  we  afterward 
learned  that  they  remained  several  days  in  a  boarding  house  in 
Rio  awaiting  the  ship  sailing  for  Buenos  Aires. 

Rio  has  a  magnificent  natural  harbor  in  a  protected  bay.  At 
the  entrance  of  this  wonderful  bay,  the  picturesque  column  of 
granite  known  as  the  "sugarloaf"  is  seen  towering  above  the 
immediate  surroundings.  On  the  opposite  side  in  the  distance, 
the  "Organ  Mountains,"  sometimes  called  the  "Fingers  of 
God,"  stand  out  in  bold  relief.  These  mountains  consist  of  a 
series  of  steep  sharp  peaks  suggesting  the  pipes  of  an  organ, 
from  which  the  name  is  derived.  It  is  claimed  that  there  is 
but  one  other  harbor  in  the  world  so  large  as  this,  and  that  is  at 
Sidney,  New  South  Wales.  In  our  time,  it  was  currently  said 
that  all  the  war  ships  of  the  world  could  find  shelter  in  the 
harbor  of  Rio. 

On  the  following  day,  Dr.  Sternberg  presented  his  creden- 
tials to  Hon.  Thomas  J.  Jarvis,  United  States  minister  and 
envoy  to  Brazil.  The  minister  was  very  courteous  and  subse- 
quently did  everything  in  his  power  to  further  Dr.  Sternberg's 
mission,  and  to  make  his  stay  agreeable.  At  the  suggestion  of 
Mr.  Jarvis,  we  arranged  to  live  at  the  "Hotel  Candido"  where 
he  and  Mrs.  Jarvis  were  then  residing.  Soon  after  our  arrival, 
we  were  presented  at  the  Court  of  the  Princess  Isabella 
(Regent  of  the  Empire  during  the  absence  of  her  august 
father,  Dom  Pedro  II). 

Dr.  Goes,  a  gentleman  who  proved  of  the  greatest  assistance 
to  Dr.  Sternberg  during  his  entire  stay  in  Brazil,  was  residing 
with  his  family  at  our  hotel.  He  was  a  man  of  culture  and 
occupied  an  honored  position  in  the  medical  profession  of  his 
country  as  a  bacteriologist  and  a  scientific  investigator.  In  Dr. 
Sternberg's  search  for  yellow  fever  patients,  Dr.  Goes  accom- 
panied him  to  the  hospitals  and  aided  in  collecting  blood  for 
microscopic  examination  and  for  experimentation. 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  soon  busily  engaged  in  a  laboratory,  doing 
heroic  work  in  order  to  accomplish  the  object  of  his  mission. 
He  spent  much  time  in  company  with  some  other  professional 
men  in  visiting  "Corticos"  to  investigate  and  verify  statements 
in  regard  to  successful  inoculations  against  yellow  fever  by 
Dr.  Domingos  Freire.     There  was  so  much  work  to  be  done 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  101 

in  solving  the  problems  assigned  to  him  that  he  worked  daily 
under  great  pressure  and  returned  home  in  the  evenings  per- 
ceptibly fatigued. 

We  visited  one  morning  the  height  known  as  "Santa 
Theresa,"  one  of  the  most  charming  environs  of  Rio.  We 
walked  slowly  up  the  height  along  a  zigzag  roadway,  sheltered 
by  tropical  foliage,  among  which  the  vanilla  vine  and  orchids 
were  conspicuous.  So  dense  was  the  shade  that  one  felt  barred 
from  leaving  the  road  and  entering  the  almost  impenetrable 
forest.  To  the  right  of  the  roadway  is  a  conduit  for  water, 
which  is  brought  down  from  innumerable  springs  high  up  on 
the  mountain.  This  system  of  conservation  was  inaugurated 
by  the  Catholic  priests  in  the  early  days  of  the  city's  history. 
There  is  a  paved  conduit  for  every  spring,  large  or  small ;  the 
flow  from  some  is  so  little  as  to  be  scarcely  perceptible.  As 
each  spring  increases  the  volume  of  water,  the  conduit  becomes 
larger  and  larger,  until  a  powerful,  gurgling  stream  is  rushing 
down  the  mountain  through  a  covered,  well  ventilated  stone 
aqueduct.  This  remarkable  enterprise  of  man,  vies  with 
beautiful  fern  trees,  orchids,  and  brilliant  birds  for  the  admira- 
tion of  the  tourist.  The  city  proper  is  built  on  a  narrow  plain 
surrounded  by  many  hills  of  granite ;  nowhere  near  Rio  is 
found  a  stretch  of  fields  to  indicate  rural  industry  or  agricul- 
tural development.  The  "Ruo  do  Ovidor,"  a  narrow  street,  but 
nevertheless  very  lively,  is  the  busiest  thoroughfare.  Here  one 
sees  a  constant  stream  of  people,  some  to  make  purchases, 
others  to  admire  the  attractive  shop  windows  and  the  beautiful 
toilets,  so  strikingly  suggestive  of  Paris.  There  is  a  fashion- 
able restaurant  nearby,  where  the  professional  men,  the  bank- 
ers and  others  go  at  11  o'clock,  or  a  little  later,  to  enjoy  the 
company  of  a  friend  and  to  take  a  small  cup  of  black  coffee. 
The  Brazilians  are  a  temperate  people  and  know  how  to  pre- 
serve health  in  a  hot  climate.  One  should  see  Rio  from  the 
summit  of  the  "Corcovada,"  a  mountain  peak  situated  quite 
near  the  city.  The  ascent  is  made  in  comparative  comfort  by 
means  of  a  cog  railway,  although  the  last  few  feet  are  very 
steep  and  require  climbing  to  the  summit. 

There  is  a  delightful  resort  in  a  mountain  valley  to  the 
north  of  Rio,  called  Petropolis,  at  that  date  the  summer  resi- 
dence of  the  Emperor.    When  yellow  fever  is  epidemic  in  Rio, 


102  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

all  those  who  can  afford  the  expense  go  up  to  Petropolis  to 
live  in  order  to  escape  the  danger.  It  appears  that  yellow  fever 
does  not  flourish  there  and  no  local  focus  has  ever  been  estab- 
lished. We  now  know  that  this  is  due  to  the  absence  of  certain 
species  of  mosquitoes  which  are  the  real  carriers  of  the  disease. 
In  the  meantime,  it  appeared  that  the  health  authorities  had 
ordered  that  Mrs.  Sternberg  and  the  little  daughter  of  Dr.  Goes 
were  to  be  vaccinated.  This  was  considered  very  necessary  as 
smallpox  was  increasing  rapidly  in  the  city  and  since  Dr.  Stern- 
berg and  Dr.  Goes  went  every  day  to  the  smallpox  hospital  for 
pathologic  material  from  yellow  fever  cases,  we  were  con- 
sidered in  special  danger  .of  contracting  smallpox.  Several 
days  after  our  vaccination  Dr.  Goes  came  to  our  door  quite 
early  in  the  morning  to  ask  about  the  condition  of  my  vaccina- 
tion. His  little  daughter  was  very  ill,  and  he  expected  to  find 
me  in  the  same  state,  but  I  had  no  symptoms  of  any  unusual 
infection. 

dr.    freire's    micro-organism    and    inoculations 

Dr.  Sternberg's  scientific  work  while  at  Ric  can  be  best 
related  in  his  own  words  from  the  detailed  report  :x 

Dr.  Domingos  Freire  whose  claims  I  had  come  especially 
to  investigate,  was  absent  in  Europe  at  the  time  of  my  arrival. 
He  had  gone  to  France  sometime  previously  for  the  purpose  of 
demonstrating  his  yellow  fever  germ  (Cryptococcus  xan- 
thogcnicus)  and  calling  attention  to  his  method  of  prophy- 
laxis. I  was,  however,  immediately  after  my  arrival,  installed 
in  his  laboratory  in  the  school  of  medicine  by  the  director  of 
the  faculty,  and  received  the  assistance  of  his  former  assistants 
and  pupils,  Dr.  Chapot  Prevost  and  Dr.  Ioaquim  Caminhoa. 

At  my  first  interview  with  the  prime  minister,  the  Baron 
Cotegepe,  the  name  of  Dr.  Goes  was  mentioned  as  one  who 
enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  Government  and  who  had  given 
much  attention  to  the  study  of  the  disease.  I  found  Dr.  Goes 
to  be  an  extremely  well-informed  physician,  a  competent  micro- 
scopist,  and  one  of  the  pioneers  in  Brazil  in  bacteriological 
studies,  especially  with  reference  to  yellow  fever.  He  has  been 
prudent  enough  not  to  publish  prematurely  the  results  of  his 
investigations,  but  has  made  extended  experimental  studies, 
and  has  especially  devoted  himself  to  the  microscopical  exam- 

1.  Report  of  the  Supervising  Surgeon-General  of  the  Marine  Hos- 
pital Service,  Washington,  1889,  p.  142. 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  103 

ination  of  sections  of  the  various  organs,  made  secundum 
artem,  and  stained  with  various  aniline  dyes,  a  method  which 
Dr.  Freire  seems  to  have  neglected  entirely,  for  neither  he  him- 
self after  his  arrival  nor  his  pupils  exhibited  to  me  a  single 
mounted  preparation  showing  his  germ  in  the  tissues,  or  in 
blood  obtained  from  the  victims  of  yellow  fever.  Nor  did  I 
find  in  Dr.  Freire's  laboratory  any  pathological  material  pre- 
served in  alcohol,  for  the  purpose  of  histological  study.  On  the 
contrary,  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  Goes  for  material  from  quite  a 
number  of  cases,  in  which  he  had  himself  made  the  autopsy. 

The  yellow  fever  season  was  about  at  an  end  when  I  arrived 
in  Brazil,  but  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  find  a  few  typical 
cases  and  to  obtain  specimens  of  blood  drawn  from  the  finger 
for  study.  But,  although  several  of  these  cases  terminated 
fatally,  I  did  not  succeed  in  obtaining  an  autopsy. 

This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  as  soon  as  the  diagnosis  of 
yellow  fever  was  established  in  a  case  in  the  wards  of  the 
Misericordia  Hospital,  or  elsewhere  in  the  city,  the  patient 
was  at  once  transferred  to  the  smallpox  hospital;  the  Jura- 
juba  Hospital,  designed  especially  for  the  reception  and  isola- 
tion of  yellow  fever  patients,  having  been  closed  at  the  end  of 
the  epidemic  season.  I  followed  two  cases  to  the  smallpox 
hospital,  and  collected  blood  from  the  finger  of  one,  whom  I 
found  in  a  ward  with  ten  or  fifteen  variola  patients,  and  who 
ejected  "black  vomit"  in  my  presence.  I  was  extremely  anxious 
to  obtain  an  autopsy  in  this  case  for  the  purpose  of  making 
cultures  from  blood  obtained  from  the  heart  and  from  mate- 
rial from  the  interior  of  the  organs  in  which  the  principal 
pathological  lesions  are  found,  but  unfortunately  did  not 
receive  notice  of  the  man's  death  until  he  was  already  buried. 
This  also  occurred  in  another  fatal  case,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  I  made  every  effort  to  receive  immediate  notice  of  the 
fatal  termination  of  these  cases,  and  in  a  fatal  case  at  the 
Misericordia  Hospital  Dr.  Goes  and  myself  arrived  just  ten 
minutes  too  late  for  an  autopsy,  the  body  having  already  been 
sent  to  the  cemetery,  although  the  man  had  been  dead  but  an 
hour. 

A  considerable  portion  of  my  time  in  Rio  was  devoted  to  an 
investigation  of  the  results  of  the  protective  inoculations  prac- 
ticed by  Dr.  Freire  in  1884,  1885  and  1886,  and  in  personally 
visiting  the  corticos  (tenement  courts)  in  which  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  inoculations  had  been  made. 

Dr.  Sternberg  then  devoted  many  pages  (155-213)  to  a  con- 
sideration of  the  .  evidence  relating  to  the  claims  of  Dr. 
Domingos  Freire  to  discovery  of  the  specific  cause  of  yellow 


104  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

fever  and  of  a  method  of  preventing  the  disease  by  inoculation 
with  an  attenuated  virus.  In  this  analysis  Dr.  Sternberg  dem- 
onstrated first,  that  the  micrococcus  presented  by  Dr.  Freire  as 
the  yellow  fever  micro-organism  did  not  correspond  with 
descriptions  of  the  Cryptococcus  xanthogenicus  ;  secondly  that 
no  such  organism  as  he  had  described  and  was  present  in  the 
cultures  which  he  furnished  to  Dr.  Sternberg  was  to  be  found 
in  the  blood  or  tissues  of  yellow  fever  patients. 

Having  reviewed  at  length  the  claim  of  Dr.  Domingos  Freire 
to  have  discovered  a  specific  yellow  fever  germ,  and  to  have 
transmitted  this  disease  to  certain  lower  animals  by  inocula- 
tion, and  having  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  these  claims 
are  without  scientific  foundation,  it  may  be  thought  that  no 
further  demonstration  is  required  in  order  to  show  that  his 
protective  inoculations  are  without  value.  The  inoculations 
practiced  are  said  to  have  been  made  with  cultures  containing 
the  "attenuated"  microbe  of  yellow  fever;  a  priori  it  would 
appear  that  if  there  has  been  no  veritable  discovery,  and  if 
there  is  no  sufficient  evidence  that  the  culture  used  in  making 
the  inoculations  contained  the  specific  germ  of  yellow  fever,  no 
value  can  be  attached  to  such  inoculations. 

But  in  order  to  do  full  justice  Dr.  Sternberg  first  quoted  all 
the  evidence  from  Dr.  Freire's  published  reports,  then  stated 
the  results  of  his  own  investigations ;  next  he  presented  a  thor- 
ough analysis  of  the  statistical  data  in  order  to  establish  the 
real  value  of  the  protective  inoculations  against  yellow  fever; 
from  all  of  which  he  was  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  "there 
is  no  satisfactory  evidence  that  Dr.  Freire's  inoculations  have 
had  any  prophylactic  value." 

RETURN     FROM     RIO     DE     JANEIRO 

While  at  Rio  we  received  and  enjoyed  some  very  agreeable 
social  attention  and  the  Minister  and  Mrs.  Jarvis  were  exceed- 
ingly kind  and  thoughtful  towards  us  at  all  times.  We  also 
met  many  distinguished  officers  of  our  own  Navy,  and  had 
enjoyed  the  social  intercourse  with  so  many  charming  people 
that  we  left  Rio  in  deep  regret. 

We  sailed,  August  11,  intending  to  take  passage  at  Bar- 
badoes  or  St.  Thomas  should  we  find  a  ship  departing  for  Vera 
Cruz,  Mex.,  or  for  some  point  in  direct  communication  with 
that  port.     Our  trip  north  was  made  uncomfortable  by  the 


YELLOW    FEVER  .  INVESTIGATIONS  105 

failure  of  the  ice  machine  and  the  consequent  deterioration  of 
the  fresh  meats,  butter  and  other  perishable  provisions.  I 
recall  nothing  of  great  interest  until  we  had  been  several  days 
at  sea,  when  I  awoke  one  night  with  a  severe  chill.  Dr.  Stern- 
berg proceeded  to  get  some  hot  water  in  the  rubber  bag.  He 
soon  reentered  the  state  room  with  the  ship  surgeon  and  the 
stewardess,  and  prepared  a  mustard  foot-bath,  which  I  knew 
was  much  used  at  that  time  as  a  first  aid  in  yellow  fever.  I 
was  also  suffering  from  aches  and  pains,  further  suggestive 
to  me  of  the  disease,  although  I  said  nothing  of  my  own  appre- 
hension. The  following  morning  there  was  a  general  moving 
on  the  ship,  all  the  passengers  located  anywhere  near  us  sought 
quarters  elsewhere  to  get  away  from  me.  Meanwhile  I 
developed  a  high  fever  and  great  thirst,  but  after  another 
night  of  discomfort  I  discovered  that  the  spot  on  my  body 
where  I  had  been  vaccinated  was  beginning  to  show  life  and 
pained  me.  I  called  Dr.  Sternberg  and  informed  him  of  my 
diagnosis  that  the  vaccine  was  taking.  This  proved  rather 
startling  information  for  my  husband,  who  remarked :  "That 
English  virus  must  have  been  contaminated.  There  must  have 
been  a  germ  in  it  that  has  taken  a  long  time  to  incubate  in  your 
system.  The  time  for  the  virus  of  smallpox  to  take  effect  has 
long  since  expired."  I  recalled  the  experience  of  Dr.  Goes  in 
Rio  with  his  daughter's  vaccination  from  the  same  lot  of  virus. 
He  said  "Yes,  but  this  germ  that  you  have  developed  must  be 
from  another  family,  it  has  been  so  long  in  developing."  It 
was  evidently  not  a  virulent  organism,  for  I  recovered  promptly 
and  have  never  since  had  any  reminder  of  its  presence. 

Dr.  Sternberg  during  a  part  of  this  trip  worked  a  great  deal 
on  his  report  and  I  helped  a  little  with  a  card  catalogue.  Before 
we  reached  Barbadoes  I  said  to  him  one  day:  "If  we  were 
going  home  how  happy  we  would  both  be.  Why  do  you  want  to 
go  to  Mexico  ?"  He  looked  appealingly  at  me  while  he  replied, 
"Because  I  have  given  so  much  of  my  time  and  strength  to  the 
investigation  of  the  cause  and  spread  of  yellow  fever,  that  I 
feel  I  have  exhausted  all  the  legitimate  experimental  methods 
that  could  elucidate  the  subject.  I  hope  in  Mexico  I  can 
arrange  to  make  human  inoculations.  In  our  own  country 
this  is  not  possible,  and  I  now  think  that  is  the  only  way  this 
problem  will  ever  be  solved."    Having  had  an  attack  of  yellow 


106  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

fever,  he  considered  himself  immune  and  hence  experimenta- 
tion on  his  own  person  would  have  been  useless. 

When  we  arrived  in  the  harbor  at  Barbadoes,  the  health 
officer  of  the  port  and  his  wife  came  out  to  us  in  a  small  boat. 
We  soon  learned  that  every  one  on  board  would  have  to  be 
mustered  in  order  to  make  sure  there  were  no  concealed  cases 
of  smallpox  or  other  communicable  diseases  among  us.  Prep- 
arations were  made  for  this  formality  by  tacking  canvas  across 
the  deck  of  the  ship,  thus  dividing  it  into  two  compartments. 
It  was  quite  dark  before  inspection  was  begun.  The 
first  class  passengers  were  first  called,  each  reporting  to  the 
health  officer  as  the  name  was  read  from  the  ship's  register. 
The  inspection  was  very  perfunctory,  being  limited  to  a  casual 
examination  of  our  faces  for  evidence  of  a  recent  attack  of 
smallpox. 

No  ship  was  sailing  for  Mexico  from  Barbadoes,  although 
the  quarantine  would  have  prevented  our  getting  on  board. 
On  arriving  at  St.  Thomas,  we  found  the  same  rigid  quaran- 
tine against  the  ship.  No  one  on  board  was  allowed  to  land 
owing  to  the  prevalence  of  smallpox  in  Rio  at  the  time  of  our 
sailing.  Dr.  Sternberg  was  greatly  disappointed,  for  he  had 
confidently  expected  to  sail  from  St.  Thomas  for  Mexico.  He 
was  given  no  choice,  and  forced  to  submit  to  the  quarantine 
regulations,  we  proceeded  on  the  ship  to  New  York. 

INVESTIGATIONS     IN     MEXICO 

Upon  our  arrival  in  New  York,  Dr.  Sternberg  made  arrange- 
ments to  proceed  at  once  by  rail  to  Mexico  to  meet  Dr.  Car- 
mona  y  Valle  for  an  investigation  of  the  latter's  methods  of 
inoculation  and  verification  of  his  claims  to  discovery  of  the 
organism  of  yellow  fever.  Official  orders  required  that  the 
investigations  be  complete  by  October  1,  but  as  it  was  evident 
that  the  remaining  time  was  insufficient  to  enable  Dr.  Sternberg 
to  comply  with  this  detail  of  the  instructions,  he  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  asking  for  an  extension 
of  twenty  days,  which  was  granted. 

Immediately  on  arrival  in  the  city  of  Mexico,  he  presented 
his  credentials  to  the  United  States  minister,  Judge  Maynard, 
who  introduced  him  to  Sr.  Marascal,  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  and  to  General  Diaz,  President  of  the  Mexican  Repub- 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  107 

lie.  From  these  gentlemen  Dr.  Sternberg  received  assurances 
that  the  government  would  do  all  in  its  power  to  further  the 
object  of  the  mission.  Sr.  Marascal  sent  a  letter  to  Pro- 
fessor Carmona  y  Valle,  president  of  the  faculty  of  the 
National  Medical  College  of  Mexico,  and  another  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  State  of  Vera  Cruz,  through  whom  Dr.  Sternberg 
would  be  able  to  obtain  the  necessary  facilities  required  for  the 
prosecution  of  his  investigations. 

Dr.  Carmona  y  Valle  at  once  made  an  appointment  for  a 
visit  to  his  laboratory,  favorably  located  on  the  top  floor  of 
the  medical  college  building,  and  equipped  with  all  the  appar- 
atus required  for  bacteriologic  research,  among  other  things 
a  complete  set  of  Koch's  apparatus  apparently  of  recent 
acquisition  and  two  Zeiss'  high  power  microscopes.  At  the 
laboratory  Dr.  Sternberg  met  Dr.  Carmona  y  Valle's  principal 
assistant,  Dr.  Angel  Gavino  Yglesias,  latterly  professor  of 
bacteriology  in  the  medical  faculty. 

Dr.  Carmona  y  Valle  exhibited  cultures  of  his  yellow  fever 
microbe,  mounted  preparations  of  the  same  stained  with  the 
different  aniline  colors,  and  sections  of  liver  and  kidney  stained 
with  hematoxylin  and  picrocarmine.  In  his  official  report  Dr. 
Sternberg  said : 

These  preparations  were  the  work  of  Dr.  Gavino  and  I  take 
pleasure  in  complimenting  the  gentleman  upon  his  technic.  I 
regret  to  say  that  I  cannot  accept  Dr.  Carmona  y  Valle's  con- 
clusions with  reference  to  the  origin  and  etiological  role  of  the 
micro-organisms  which  he  presented  to  me  as  coming  from 
the  blood  and  from  the  urine  of  yellow  fever  patients.  I 
think  I  will  be  able  to  prove  to  him  and  to  others  in  my 
detailed  report  that  they  are  altogether  accidental  and  without 
significance,  so  far  as  the  disease  is  concerned ;  that  the  blood 
and  tissues  of  yellow  fever  patients  do  not  contain  organisms 
such  as  he  exhibited  to  me  in  the  cultures,  that  these  cultures 
contain  a  .micrococcus  and  a  bacillus,  which  are  specifically  dif- 
ferent and  bear  no  relation  the  one  to  the  other,  except  the 
accidental  one  of  being  associated  in  his  cultures.  Therefore, 
his  inference  that  the  spherical  organisms — micrococci — are 
"zoospores"  which  may  develop  into  bacilli  and  these  again 
break  up  into  spherical  organisms  is  a  mistake ;  that  the  move- 
ments of  these  "zoospores"  observed  by  him  and  exhibited  to 
me,  which  he  says  are  not  arrested  by  a  temperature  of  160°  C. 
or  by  forty-eight  hours'  exposure  to  a  1  per  cent,  solution  of 
mercuric  chloride,  are  molecular  and  not  vital  movements; 


108  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

that  the  dark-colored  granules  in  his  sections  of  kidney  and 
liver,  stained  with  picrocarmine  and  haemotoxylin,  do  not  cor- 
respond with  the  organisms  contained  in  his  cultures,  and  in 
fact  are  not  micro-organisms.  While  differing  radically  with 
the  learned  professor  in  all  of  these  particulars,  I  desire 
to  testify  my  high  appreciation  of  his  laudable  effort  to 
apply  scientific  methods  to  the  study  of  yellow  fever.  If 
he  had  been  situated  more  favorably  for  the  study  of  this  dis- 
ease I  dare  say  he  would  have  found  out  for  himself  the 
source  of  the  errors  into  which  I  believe  he  has  fallen,  but 
having  to  depend  upon  others  to  collect  his  material  at  a  dis- 
tant locality  his  misfortune  has  been  that  the  specimens  of 
mine  and  blood  which  have  served  to  start  his  cultures  con- 
tained extraneous  organisms,  which  bear  no  relation  to  the 
disease  which  he  had  undertaken  to  study. 

INVESTIGATIONS     AT     VERA     CRUZ 

Dr.  Sternberg  learned  that  the  inoculations  practiced  by  Dr. 
Carmona  y  Valle  had  for  the  most  part  been  made  in  Vera 
Cruz.  It  was  here  that  Dr.  Sternberg  had  hoped  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  make  experiments  on  the  human  subject,  and  he 
proceeded  to  that  city  as  soon  as  possible.  At  his  request  and 
by  permission  of  the  president  of  the  faculty  of  medicine  (Dr. 
Carmona)  he  was  accompanied  by  Dr.  Gavino  to  assist  in  the 
researches.  After  their  arrival  they  established  a  laboratory 
in  their  rooms  on  the  upper  floor  of  the  Hotel  de  Mexico 
and  hastened  to  put  themselves  in  communication  with  the 
physicians  in  charge  of  the  civil  and  military  hospitals.  These 
gentlemen  placed  their  wards  at  his  service  and  did  every- 
thing in  their  power  to  further  Dr.  Sternberg's  investigations. 
In  his  final  report  he  expressed  great  obligation  to  Dr.  Daniel 
Ruiz,  director  of  the  civil  hospital,  for  most  valuable  assistance 
and  for  the  great  interest  he  took  in  the  experimental 
researches.  Unfortunately  for  Dr.  Sternberg's  object,  there 
were  very  few  typical  cases  of  yellow  fever  in  Vera  Cruz  dur- 
ing the  time  remaining  (three  weeks)  and  he  was  unable  to 
secure  an  autopsy  in  a  single  undoubted  case. 

BLOOD     INOCULATIONS     BY   DR.     DANIEL     RUIZ 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  especially  interested  in  the  inoculation  of 
blood  from  yellow  fever  patients  into  susceptible  persons,  and 
on  this  phase  of  the  studies  he  wrote  as  follows: 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  109 

If  the  infectious  agent  in  yellow  fever  is  present  in  the  blood, 
we  would  expect  that  the  disease  may  be  transmitted  by 
inoculating  a  susceptible  person  with  blood  drawn  from  one 
sick  with  the  disease.  Dr.  Finlay,  of  Havana,  believes  that 
the  disease  is  commonly  transmitted  by  mosquitoes,  which, 
after  filling  themselves  from  a  yellow  fever  patient,  transmit 
the  germ  by  inoculation  into  susceptible  persons.  Evidently 
the  most  satisfactory  and  direct  way  of  determining  whether 
the  infectious  agent  is  present  in  the  blood  would  be  to  make 
inoculation  experiments  in  susceptible  persons.  Before  going 
to  Brazil  I  had  considered  the  possibility  of  making  this  crucial 
experiment,  and  had  determined  to  make  it  if  opportunity 
offered.  When  in  Vera  Cruz  I  learned  that  the  experiment 
had  already  been  made  in  1885  by  Dr.  Daniel  Ruiz,  who  is  an 
entire  unbeliever  in  the  infectious  nature  of  yellow  fever,  and 
had  no  confidence  in  the  alleged  discovery  of  a  yellow  fever 
germ  by  Dr.  Carmona.  In  order  to  test,  in  a  practical  manner, 
the  truth  of  his  views,  he  made  in  1885,  injections  of  blood  and 
of  urine  from  typical  cases  of  yellow  fever  into  the  subcutane- 
ous connective  tissue  of  an  "unacclimated"  person.  The  result 
of  these  inoculations  was  negative.  At  the  time  of  my  visit 
to  Vera  Cruz  he  expressed  his  entire  willingness  to  repeat  these 
experiments  in  my  presence.  This  was  exactly  what  I  desired, 
and  accordingly  Dr.  Ruiz  made  three  inoculation  experiments 
upon  three  unacclimated  persons  in  the  hospital.  Unfortun- 
ately, the  blood  used  for  two  of  these  individuals  was  obtained 
from  a  case  in  which  the  pathological  appearance  did  not  fully 
sustain  the  diagnosis  of  yellow  fever  made  during  life.    .     .     . 

The  third  inoculation  was  made  from  a  nonfatal  case  on 
the  eighth  day  of  sickness,  urine  still  albuminous,  skin  yellow. 
Fifty  cubic  centimeters  of  blood  were  drawn  from  the  median 
vein  of  this  patient  by  means  of  a  hypodermic  syringe,  which 
had  been  carefully  sterilized.  This  was  immediately  after 
injected,  subcutaneously,  in  the  deltoid  region,  into  the  arm  of 
a  man  aged  forty,  from  the  interior  of  Mexico,  who  had  been 
in  Vera  Cruz  only  twenty  days.  The  man  from  whom  the 
blood  was  drawn  was  apyretic,  and  the  experiment  is  open  to 
the  criticism  that  it  was  perhaps  too  long  after  the  inception  of 
the  malady.  I  was  therefore,  anxious  to  make  other  experi- 
ments before  leaving  Vera  Cruz,  but  the  time  fixed  by  my 
orders  expired  without  my  having  had  an  opportunity  to  do  so. 

The  physicians  attending  the  civil  and  military  hospitals  in 
Vera  Cruz  were  familiar  with  Dr.  Carmona's  claims,  but  Dr. 
Sternberg  could  not  learn  that  any  of  them  had  confidence  in 
the  protective  inoculation,  which  had  been  extensively  tested 
in  1885  under  their  immediate  observation.    The  results  then 


110  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

obtained  were  not  sufficiently  encouraging  to  induce  any  one  to 
continue  the  practice  in  Vera  Cruz  and  Dr.  Carmona  himself 
had  not  made  any  considerable  number  of  inoculations  since. 

A  great  deal  of  laborious  comparative  work  was  accom- 
plished in  order  to  examine  and  fathom  the  work  of  Dr.  Car- 
mona y  Valle,  and  Dr.  Sternberg's  preliminary  report  contained 
the  following  conclusion: 

The  claims  of  Dr.  Carmona  y  Valle  of  Mexico  to  have  dis- 
covered the  specific  cause  of  yellow  fever  have  no  scientific 
basis,  and  he  has  failed  to  demonstrate  the  protective  value  of 
his  proposed  methods  of  prophylaxis. 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  by  nature  generous  and  kindly,  and  he 
fostered  a  feeling  of  brotherly  interest  in  the  members  of  his 
profession,  especially  those  who,  like  himself,  were  carrying 
on  research  for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  It  was  painful  for 
him  to  refute  the  claims  of  those  who  in  their  efforts  to  aid 
humanity  had  made  mistakes.  In  order  to  be  quite  correct  and 
just,  he  did  an  immense  amount  of  corroborative  work,  often 
repeating  tests  that  had  given  rise  to  the  slightest  doubt.  In 
reference  to  his  personal  disappointment,  he  said: 

No  one  regrets  more  than  I  do  that  the  question  of  the 
etiology  of  yellow  fever  is  not  yet  solved  in  a  definite  manner, 
but  I  at  least  have  not  to  reproach  myself  with  want  of 
diligence  or  failure  to  embrace  every  opportunity  for  pursuing 
the  research.  The  difficulties  have  proved  to  be  much  greater 
than  I  anticipated  at  the  outset. 

If  the  task  before  me  had  been  to  find  an  organism  in  the 
blood  like  that  in  relapsing  fever,  or  anthrax,  or  an  organism 
in  the  organs  principally  involved  as  in  typhoid  fever  or 
leprosy,  or  glanders,  or  in  the  intestines  as  in  cholera,  the 
researches  I  have  made  could  scarcely  have  failed  to  be 
crowned  with  success.  If  I  have  not  succeeded  in  making  a 
positive  demonstration  which  will  satisfy  the  exactions  of  sci- 
ence, I  have  at  least  been  able  to  exclude  in  a  definite  manner 
a  majority  of  the  micro-organisms  which  I  have  encountered 
in  my  culture  experiments,  as  well  as  those  which  various 
other  investigators  (Domingos  Freire  of  Brazil,  Carmona  y 
Valle  of  Mexico,  Carlos  Finlay  of  Havana  and  Paul  Gibier  of 
France)  have  supposed  to  be  the  specific  cause  of  the  disease. 
I  shall  endeavor  to  give  an  exact  account  of  the  character  of 
these  various  micro-organisms,  and  of  the  evidence  upon  which 
I  feel  justified  in  excluding  them  from  consideration  from  an 
etiological  point  of  view. 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  111 

RETURN     TO     BALTIMORE 

After  his  return  from  Mexico,  Dr.  Sternberg  received  orders 
from  the  War  Department  to  report  again  for  duty  in  Balti- 
more as  attending  surgeon  and  examiner  of  recruits.  This 
was  joyful  news  for  both  of  us ;  my  husband  could  arrange  the 
hours  of  his  Army  duties  and  could  continue  and  complete 
the  work  of  his  recent  scientific  expedition.  He  would  again 
enjoy  the  privileges  and  the  facilities  of  the  biologic  laboratory 
at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  where  he  had  previously  been 
made  an  honorary  fellow.  Dr.  Sternberg  always  greatly  appre- 
ciated the  value  of  intimate  association  with  men  of  sympa- 
thetic interests  such  as  Dr.  William  H.  Welch  and  William  T. 
Councilman;  this  association  brought  renewed  effort  and 
encouragement.  President  Gilman  and  Mrs.  Gilman  were 
exceedingly  kind  and  cordial  in  their  greeting  to  us,  and  we 
enjoyed  all  the  pleasure  and  many  of  the  privileges  of  the  uni- 
versity staff.  We  also  had  the  good  fortune  to  make  or  renew 
the  acquaintance  of  some  of  the  most  interesting  and  influ- 
ential residents  of  the  city. 

Dr.  Sternberg  had  been  carefully  checking  over  his  work 
in  Brazil  and  Mexico,  and  had  verified  and  repeated  many  of 
the  bacteriologic  researches.  But  he  was  not  fully  satisfied 
and  wished  to  go  to  Cuba  during  an  epidemic  season  for 
further  verification  and  more  experimental  work.  In  those 
days  it  was  not  an  easy  matter  to  get  material  for  laboratory 
work  as  many  of  the  hospitals  were  very  much  opposed  to 
postmortem  examinations.  In  order  to  make  certain  that  there 
was  no  invasion  of  other  germs  after  death,  it  was  necessary 
that  materal  for  biologic  examination  and  experimentation 
should  be  obtained  within  two  hours  after  the  patient  had  suc- 
cumbed to  the  disease.  During  severe  epidemics,  it  was  then 
believed  that  the  body  was  in  such  a  badly  infected  condition 
that  nothing  should  be  done  in  preparation  for  burial,  except 
to  fold  the  corpse  in  a  sheet,  which  was  saturated  with  a  solu- 
tion of  mercury  bichlorid  or  carbolic  acid.  Burials  were 
frequently  made  as  early  as  one  or  two  hours  after  death.  All 
chances  for  successful  research  work  were  lost  forever,  unless 
someone  followed  the  body  to  the  cemetery  and  obtained  the 
desired  material  in  a  clandestine  manner.  Through  the  kind- 
ness of  Dr.  Daniel  M.  Burgess  of  Havana,  Dr.  Sternberg  had 
been  enabled  to  do  some  work  with  reliable  pathologic  material. 


112  GEORGE    M.    STERXBERG 

STUDIES     IN      HAVANA 

April  23,  1888,  in  response  to  his  own  request,  Dr.  Stern- 
berg received  orders  to  proceed  to  Havana.  These  orders  were 
clearly  intended  to  afford  him  the  opportunity  for  continuing 
his  investigations  during  the  epidemic  season  at  one  of  the 
permanent  centers  of  infection,  but  the  time  was  again  limited 
through  misapprehension  as  to  the  availability  of  the  appropria- 
tion after  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year.  He  was  required  to  return 
to  his  station  and  submit  his  report  to  the  President  on  or 
before  June  25,  1888,  but  he  employed  this  time  most  usefully, 
especially  in  investigating  the  claim  of  Dr.  Paul  Gibier,  a 
French  bacteriologist,  who  had  gone  to  Cuba  in  the  autumn  of 
1887  in  the  expectation  of  finding  the  yellow  fever  microbe  of 
Dr.  Freire. 

DR.     GIBIER'S     BACILLUS 

Dr.  Gibier  arrived  in  Havana  in  November,  1887,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  make  bacteriologic  researches  by  approved  meth- 
ods. Having  convinced  himself  that  neither  the  micrococcus  of 
Freire,  nor  any  other  micro-organism  was  present  in  the  blood 
of  yellow  fever  patients,  Dr.  Gibier  turned  his  attention  to  the 
micro-organisms  present  in  the  alimentary  canal  and  isolated 
from  the  contents  of  the  intestines  of  one  or  more  cases  a 
liquefying  bacillus  to  which  he  was  inclined  to  attach  special 
importance.  Dr.  Gibier  kindly  placed  in  my  hands  a  culture 
of  this  bacillus  upon  my  arrival  in  Havana  in  the  spring  of 
1888,  and  I  have  had  it  in  constant  cultivation  since  that  time, 
and  have  made  numerous  inoculations  into  rabbits  and  guinea 
pigs  which  show  that  it  is  pathogenic  for  these  animals.  But 
my  extended  researches  give  no  support  to  the  supposition  that 
it  is  concerned  in  the  etiology  of  yellow  fever. 

This  conclusion  was  based  on  twenty  autopsies  made  in 
Havana  and  in  Decatur,  Ala.,  in  1888,  and  again  in  Havana  in 
1889.1 

Not  having  arrived  at  any  definite  conclusion  as  to  the  spe- 
cific cause  of  the  disease  under  investigation,  Dr.  Sternberg 
again  requested  assignment  to  Cuba  during  the  epidemic  sea- 
son of  1889,  and  received  orders  which  enabled  him  to  spend  an 
entire  summer  in  Havana. 


1.  For  further  details  see  Dr.  Sternberg's  Report  on  Etiology  and 
Prevention  of  Yellow  Fever,  Washington,  Government  Printing  Office, 
1890,  pp.  167,  177,  178. 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  113 

YELLOW  FEVER  GERM  OF  DR.  CARLOS  FINLAY 

On  his  earlier  visit  Dr.  Sternberg  had  taken  deep  interest 
in  the  work  of  Dr.  Carlos  Finlay  and  Dr.  Delgado  in  bac- 
teriology. Dr.  Finlay  had  observed  micrococci  in  groups  of 
four  in  cultures  obtained  from  mosquitoes,  which  he  allowed 
to  fill  with  blood  from  yellow  fever  patients.  He  inferred 
that  the  micrococci  came  from  the  blood  of  the  sick,  and  that 
the  grouping  in  fours  was  a  character  by  which  he  could  dis- 
tinguish this  organism,  which  he  named  Micrococcus  tetragenus 
febris  flavae,  upon  the  supposition  that  it  was  concerned  in  the 
etiology  of  yellow  fever. 

During  the  winter  of  1887-1888,  Dr.  Finlay  had  sent  Dr. 
Sternberg  a  number  of  mosquito  cultures  which  were  found  to 
contain  a  variety  of  micro-organisms.  Among  these  the  large 
micrococcus  grouped  in  tetrads  was  most  conspicuous,  and  it 
had  been  isolated  and  studied  in  pure  culture.  Dr.  Sternberg 
found  this  organism  in  cultures  from  the  contents  of  the 
stomach  and  intestines  of  yellow  fever  cadavers  and  in  one  case 
from  the  liver.  His  researches  convinced  him,  however,  that  it 
is  a  very  common  organism  on  the  surface  of  the  body  of 
patients  in  the  hospitals  of  Vera  Cruz  and  of  Havana.  In 
Brazil  in  1887,  Dr.  Goes  obtained  it  in  a  culture  from  blood 
drawn  from  the  finger  of  a  yellow  fever  patient.  Dr.  Sternberg 
inferred  that  its  presence  was  accidental  and  due  to  contamina- 
tion of  the  drop  of  blood  during  collection  ;  and  this  he  believed 
to  have  been  the  case  when  found  in  Dr.  Finlay's  culture  from 
blister  serum.  At  all  events,  in  a  case  of  brain  disease  and  one 
of  skin  disease,  in  which  Drs.  Finlay  and  Delgado  applied 
blisters  and  collected  serum  by  their  usual  method,  Dr.  Stern- 
berg obtained  this  micrococcus  in  Esmarch  roll-tubes  to  which 
the  serum  had  been  added.  These  cases  had  not  been  asso- 
ciated in  any  way  with  yellow  fever  patients,  and  the  blister 
serum  was  collected  at  Dr.  Sternberg's  suggestion  as  a  control 
experiment.  From  this  and  other  experimental  data,  Dr.  Stern- 
berg concluded : 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  this  organism  has  any- 
thing to  do  with  the  etiology  of  yellow  fever  and  its  occasional 
presence  in  blood  drawn  from  the  finger,  or  in  blister  serum 
is  due  to  accidental  contamination  from  the  surface  of  the  body 
or  from  the  atmosphere. 


114  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Dr.  Sternberg  in  reference  to  this  matter  also  wrote : 

Mv  friend,  Dr.  Finlay,  is  a  most  enthusiastic  and  industrious 
investigator,  but  like  many  other  pioneers  in  bacteriological 
research  at  a  distance  from  centers  where  modern  exact 
methods  had  their  origin,  at  the  time  of  making  his  first  publi- 
cations he  was  not  familiar  with  methods  of  isolating  and 
differentiating  micro-organisms,  and  he  fell  into  the  usual  and 
almost  inevitable  errors  of  inference  as  to  various  micro- 
organisms encountered  by  him  in  his  earlier  researches.  He 
has  since  made  himself  familiar  with  the  methods  referred  to 
and  no  longer  insists  upon  the  etiological  relations  of  this 
micrococcus  to  the  disease  under  consideration  —  namely  yellow 
fever. 

NEW    METHOD     OF     TREATING     YELLOW     FEVER 

Dr.  Sternberg  studied  all  factors  related  to  yellow  fever,  such 
as  climatic  influences,  the  origin  of  epidemics  and  the  surround- 
ings, in  fact  everything  relating  to  the  cause  and  prevention 
of  this  frightful  plague.  His  intimate  association  with  the 
disease  had  convinced  him  that  no  medical  treatment  could  be 
regarded  curative  and  only  a  few  remedies  afforded  alleviation, 
hence  he  considered  careful  nursing  and  alimentation  of  prime 
importance.  His  researches  in  Havana  in  1888  led  him  to 
think  it  very  probable  that  in  yellow  fever  as  in  cholera,  the 
specific  micro-organism  causing  the  disease  is  located  in  the 
alimentary  canal,  and  he  therefore  made  an  attempt  to  formu- 
late a  method  of  treatment  in  accordance  with  this  view  of  the 
etiology  and  pathology  of  the  disease.  In  support  of  this  he 
said : 

The  intensely  acid  condition  of  the  urine  and  the  vomited 
matter,  in  fact,  I  have  usually  found  the  contents  of  the  intes- 
tine more  or  less  acid,  has  led  me  to  think  that  a  very  decidedly 
alkaline  treatment  might  be  beneficial,  and  in  view  of  the  prob- 
ability that  the  specific  infectious  agent  is  located  in  the 
alimentary  canal,  I  have  combined  with  it  the  agent  which  is 
known  to  restrict  the  development  of  micro-organisms  when 
present  in  very  minute  quantities.  The  formula  suggested  was 
as  follows :  Sodium  bicarbonate,  10  grams ;  mercury  bichlorid, 
2  centigrams ;  water,  one  quart ;  three  tablespoon  fuls  to  be  given 
ice  cold  every  hour. 

A  letter  from  Dr.  D.  M.  Burgess,  sanitary  inspector  of 
Havana,  gave  an  account  of  the  results  up  to  a  fixed  date. 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  115 

Ten  cases  (six  severe  ones)  have  been  treated  at  Garcini  by 
your  alkaline  and  bichlorid  method,  and  all  have  recovered ; 
none  subjected  to  that  method  have  died,  three  were  treated 
successfully  in  another  hospital  here.  Four  are  today  receiving 
the  treatment  at  Garcini,  and  about  an  equal  number  at  each 
of  two  other  institutions.1 

Among  sixty-five  white  patients  treated  at  Decatur,  Ala.,  by 
other  methods  the  mortality  rate  was  40  per  cent.,  and  among 
twenty-five  colored  patients  20  per  cent.,  whereas  under  the 
alkaline  and  bichlorid  treatment  not  a  single  death  occurred 
out  of  thirty-two  cases  among  the  colored  population,  and  the 
mortality  rate  among  the  whites  was  reduced  to  12.5  per  cent. 
Dr.  Sollace  Mitchell  of  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  wrote  to  Dr.  Stern- 
berg, Sept.  9,  1889 : 

I  treated  in  all  216  cases.  I  did  not  begin  the  use  of  the 
bichlorid  until  I  had  treated  some  thirty-five  or  forty  by  other 
methods,  and  when  the  bichlorid  was  begun,  only  every  fourth 
patient  was  put  upon  it,  then  every  other  patient,  and  toward 
the  last  almost  all  patients  were  put  upon  it.  The  bichlorid  and 
alkaline  treatment  gave  the  best  results  by  all  odds. 

Dr.  Mitchell's  list  included  106  cases  with  five  deaths,  a 
mortality  rate  of  4.7  per  cent. ;  seventy-nine  of  these  cases  and 
all  of  the  deaths  were  among  white  patients,  a  mortality  rate 
of  6.3  per  cent.,  twenty-seven  patients  were  colored,  with  no 
deaths.  The  mortality  among  the  white  population  considered 
separately,  was  estimated  at  from  22  to  25  per  cent. 

METHODS     OF     RESEARCH 

The  investigations  conducted  in  the  city  of  Havana  in  the 
summer  of  1888  and  1889,  at  Decatur,  Ala.,  in  the  autumn  of 
1888,  and  pathologic  research  in  the  laboratories  of  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University  during  the  intervals  between  visits  to 
infected  localities,  formed  the  basis  of  Dr.  Sternberg's  final 
report.  The  bacteriologic  studies  were  made  with  material 
from  forty-three  yellow  fever  cadavers,  from  "black  vomit" 
and  from  feces  of  patients  in  various  stages  of  the  disease. 
Eighteen  cadavers  in  which  death  occurred  from  diseases  other 
than  yellow  fever  were  used  as  controls.  The  reports  give 
clear  statements  of  facts,  and  an  outline  of  the  procedure.    He 


1.  See  p.  85  of  Dr.  Sternberg's  Report,  also  Therap.  Gaz.  (Aug.  15) 
(May  15)   1889. 


116  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

describes  (1)  the  source  of  material;  (2)  the  methods  of  col- 
lecting material;  (3)  the  methods  of  research:  (a)  the  direct 
examination  of  smear  preparations  from  the  blood  and  tissues 
for  micro-organisms,  (b)  aerobic  cultures,  (c)  anaerobic  cul- 
tures, (d)  examinations  of  tissues  kept  for  forty-eight  hours 
in  antiseptic  wrapping,  (e)  experiments  on  animals,  (/) 
examination  of  tissues  preserved  in  alcohol,  and  (g)  photo- 
micrographs of  micro-organisms  encountered. 

The  exhaustive  investigations  on  which  his  final  reports  were 
based  are  indicated  in  an  outline  of  the  technical  procedures  in 
the  research. 

EXAMINATION     OF     SMEAR     PREPARATIONS 

Referring  to  the  direct  examination  of  smear  preparations 
from  the  blood  and  tissues  of  all  of  his  autopsies  he  wrote 
on  page  104 : 

Usually  I  have  stained  these  preparations  with  an  aqueous 
solution  of  fuchsin,  or  with  Loeffler's  solution  of  methylene 
blue  .  .  .  and  I  feel  very  confident  that  with  my  1/18 
homogeneous  oil  immersion  objective  of  Zeiss,  the  Abbe  con- 
denser and  a  fuchsin-stained  smear  preparation  from  the  blood, 
liver  or  kidney,  any  micro-organism  of  this  class  which  might 
be  present  should  be  seen. 

His  preparations  of  blood  from  the  heart  did  not  show  the 
presence  of  micro-organisms,  even  in  cases  in  which  he  obtained 
them  by  the  culture  method;  as  a  rule  the  results  of  such  cul- 
tures were  negative,  but  in  certain  cases  colonies  of  Bacterium 
coli  commune  and  occasionally  of  other  bacilli  developed. 

My  smear  preparations  made  from  material  obtained  from 
the  stomach  and  intestine  have  always  shown  the  abundant 
presence  of  micro-organisms.  .  .  .  There  is  no  single  one 
to  fix  the  attention  as  being  peculiar  to  yellow  fever,  or  so 
constantly  and  abundantly  present  as  to  give  ground  to  the 
belief  that  it  is  concerned  in  the  etiology  of  this  disease. 

AEROBIC     CULTURES 

Aerobic  cultures  from  blood  from  one  of  the  cavities  of  the 
heart  in  the  majority  of  cases  gave  a  negative  result,  but  in 
a  certain  proportion  of  the  cases  colonies  developed  in  Esmarch 
roll-tubes  to  which  one  or  more  drops  of  blood  had  been  added. 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  117 

A  summary  of  these  results  showed  that  he  obtained  micro- 
organisms in  his  aerobic  cultures  in  blood  from  the  heart  four 
times  in  nineteen  cases ;  in  the  liver  and  kidney,  or  both,  thirteen 
times  in  forty-three  cases.    He  stated : 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  micro-organisms  most  frequently 
encountered  were  non-liquefying,  my  bacillus  "A"  and  bacillus 
"X".  We  are  therefore  able  to  assert  in  the  most  positive 
manner  that  the  blood  and  tissues  of  yellow  fever  cadavers  do 
not  contain  aerobic  liquefying  organisms  unless  by  rare  excep- 
tions and  can  definitely  exclude  the  micrococcus  of  Freire  and 
the  "tetragenus"  of  Finlay,  from  consideration  as  possible 
agents  in  the  etiology  of  this  disease,  as  both  of  these  grow 
readily  in  the  culture  medium  used  in  these  investigations  and 
both  liquefy  gelatin. 

This  fact  seemed  to  exclude  from  consideration  the  supposi- 
tion that  yellow  fever  is  due  to  the  presence  in  the  alimentary 
canal  of  a  liquefying  bacillus,  as  is  the  case  in  cholera. 

We  might  be  satisfied  with  this  general  statement  but  for 
the  fact  that  Dr.  Paul  Gibier,  during  his  visit  to  Havana  in 
1888  encountered  a  liquefying  bacillus  which  he  supposed  for 
a  time  at  least  to  be  the  specific  microbe  of  the  disease.  In 
view  of  Dr.  Gibier's  publication  referring  to  this  bacillus,  I 
have  given  special  attention  to  a  search  for  liquefying  colonies 
in  the  dejecta.  As  stated  no  liquefying  colonies  have  made 
their  appearance  in  a  considerable  portion  of  the  cases,  but  in 
a  few  exceptional  cases  the  liquefying  colonies  have  been  very 
numerous.  .  .  .  These  experiments  were  repeated  for  a 
control  experiment  at  Decatur,  Ala.,  October,  1888,  which  gave 
numerous  liquefying  colonies ;  colonies  both  from  the  stomach 
and  the  intestine,  and  the  liquefying  organism  proved  to  be  the 
staphylococcus  pyogenes  aureus.  .  .  .  After  further 
experimental  work  this  conclusion  is  given  in  regard  to  the 
claim  of  Dr.  Gibier's  bacillus  (Sternberg's  bacillus  "G").  It 
has  been  present  in  the  intestine  of  a  few  cases,  but  that  it  has 
been  absent  in  a  much  greater  number,  and  when  present  has 
not  been  abundant  as  compared  with  the  nonliquefying  organ- 
isms. The  inference  is  that  its  presence  is  accidental  and  that  it 
bears  no  etiological  relation  to  the  disease,  and  in  view  of  the 
facts  developed  by  my  culture  experiments  the  broad  statement 
seems  to  be  justified  that  yellow  fever  is  not  due  to  a  liquefying 
aerobic  bacillus. 

ANAEROBIC     CULTURES 

An  account  of  the  various  micro-organisms  which  Dr.  Stern- 
berg isolated  by  this  method  was  given. 


118  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

The  general  results  so  far  as  investigations  on  blood  and 
tissue  are  concerned  are  similar  to  that  obtained  in  my  aerobic 
cultures.  That  is,  various  micro-organisms  have  been  encount- 
ered in  the  series  of  cases  in  which  this  method  has  been 
applied,  but  no  one  of  them  has  been  constant,  and  in  consider- 
able proportion  of  the  cases  the  result  has  been  entirely  nega- 
tive. Some  of  the  micro-organisms  isolated  in  my  anaerobic 
cultures  are  identical  with  those  obtained  in  aerobic  cultures 
from  the  same  source ;  for  my  bacillus  "A"  and  "X",  and  other 
bacilli  associated  with  them  in  the  intestine,  are  facultative 
anaerobics  and  grow  either  in  the  presence,  or  the  absence  of 
oxygen. 

EXAMINATION     OF     TISSUES     IN     ANTISEPTIC     WRAPPING 

This  led  to  uniformly  negative  results,  as  is  clearly  apparent 
from  Dr.  Sternberg's  writings  : 

A  microscopical  examination  of  stained  smear  preparations 
of  the  liver  or  kidney  shows  that  a  large  number  of  micro- 
organisms are  present. 

The  one  which  I  found  most  constantly  and  abundantly  in 
yellow-fever  tissues  preserved  in  this  way  was  a  large  anaerobic 
bacillus  —  my  bacillus  "N",  which  I  now  call  Bacillus  cadaveri- 
nus.  Having  also  found  this  several  times  in  my  smear  prepa- 
rations from  fresh  liver  tissue,  and  finding  it  to  be  very  com- 
mon in  the  contents  of  the  intestine,  I  hoped  for  a  time,  that 
it  might  turn  out  to  be  the  specific  agent  in  the  disease  under 
investigation.  But  before  leaving  Havana,  I  had  found  what 
appeared  to  be  the  same  bacillus  in  a  piece  of  liver,  which  I 
obtained  from  a  case  of  tuberculosis ;  and  since  my  return  to 
Baltimore  I  have  found  it  in  other  comparative  autopsies ;  so 
that  I  now  feel  compelled  to  exclude  it  from  consideration  as 
having  any  etiological  relation  to  yellow  fever. 

RESULTS     OF     EXPERIMENTS     ON     ANIMALS 

Dr.  Sternberg  in  1879  at  Havana  exposed  a  number  of 
guinea-pigs  on  an  infected  ship  during  the  hottest  part  of  the 
year  for  a  period  of  forty-eight  hours ;  none  of  the  animals 
contracted  yellow  fever. 

Dr.  Freire  in  1885  made  inoculations  in  guinea-pigs  of  blood 
and  from  "black  vomit"  in  which  death  followed  the  inocula- 
tion and  in  every  one  of  which  the  assumption  is  made  that 
the  animals  succumbed  to  yellow  fever.  But  his  summary 
statement  of  these  experiments  presents  some  points  of  interest. 
Thus  we  find  that  one  animal  died  at  the  end  of  a  few  hours, 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  119 

while  one  lived  for  30  days.  Yet  death  in  both  of  these 
extreme  cases  is  ascribed  to  yellow  fever,  resulting  from  the 
inoculation  practiced. 

Dr.  Sternberg  made  nearly  100  inoculation  experiments  in 
order  to  verify  Dr.  Freire's  claim,  but  failed  to  produce  the 
disease.  He  found  that  the  blood  and  liver  tissues  were  not 
always  pathogenic  for  guinea-pigs  or  rabbits, 

but  that  in  exceptional  cases  in  which  the  large  anaerobic 
bacillus  "N"  is  present,  death  may  occur  very  promptly.  We 
must  therefore  conclude  that  the  death  of  guinea-pigs  inocu- 
lated by  Dr.  Freire  during  the  epidemic  season  resulted  not 
from  yellow  fever,  but  from  inoculation  with  some  pathogenic 
organism,  which  was  abundant  during  the  summer  months, 
and  consequently  was  present  in  his  cultures,  or  from  accidental 
inoculation  through  the  wound  made  by  him  in  his  experiments. 

A  large  number  of  experiments  and  control  experiments  were 
also  undertaken  to  test  the  infectiousness  of  the  contents  of 
the  stomach  and  intestine,  and  while  some  of  the  inoculations 
proved  virulent  and  even  fatal  to  guinea  pigs,  he  was  unable 
to  demonstrate  that  any  one  of  the  numerous  micro-organisms 
encountered  was  the  specific  cause  of  yellow  fever. 

EXAMINATION     OF     TISSUES     PRESERVED     IN     ALCOHOL 

There  were  many  days  spent  in  painstaking  search  for  micro- 
organisms in  tissues  obtained  postmortem  and  preserved  in 
alcohol. 

In  all  infectious  diseases  which  have  been  proved  to  be  due 
to  the  presence  of  a  parasitic  micro-organism  in  the  blood,  this 
organism  may  be  demonstrated  in  properly  stained  thin  sec- 
tions of  the  tissues.  In  such  sections  we  often  obtain  cross 
sections  of  small  blood  vessels  in  which  the  blood  corpuscles 
are  in  situ,  and  in  which  a  stained  micro-organism  if  present 
would  be  very  apparent.  .  .  .  Moreover  in  certain  infec- 
tious diseases  in  which  a  parasitic  micro-organism  has  been 
proved  to  be  the  essential  etiological  factor  this  organism  is 
not  found  as  a  rule  in  the  general  blood  current,  but  is  present 
in  the  tissues,  especially  implicated  in  the  morbid  process ;  e.  g. 
in  typhoid  fever  in  the  spleen  and  intestinal  glands,  in  tubercu- 
losis in  the  tubercular  nodules  in  the  lungs  and  elsewhere. 
Failure  to  find  a  parasitic  organism  in  blood  drawn  from  the 
finger  is  therefore  not  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  absence  of 
a  specific  germ  from  the  tissues  of  the  organs  involved.  As 
in  yellow  fever  the  liver  and  kidneys  give  evidence  of  patho- 
logical changes  resulting  from  this  disease,  I  have  naturally 


120  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

given  special  attention  to  these  organs  in  the  researches  I  have 
made.  The  Havana  commission  in  1879  made  numerous  sec- 
tions of  material  preserved  in  alcohol  from  eighteen  cases,  and 
a  careful  examination  of  these  sections  failed  to  reveal  the 
presence  of  any  micro-organism ;  but  as  more  satisfactory 
methods  of  staining  have  since  been  devised,  I  have  not  con- 
sidered the  work  done  at  that  time  as  conclusive  in  this  regard. 
I  therefore  wrote  to  my  friend,  Dr.  Daniel  M.  Burgess  of 
Havana,  sometime  in  the  summer  of  1884,  requesting  him  to 
obtain  for  me  small  pieces  of  liver,  kidney  and  stomach  from 
one  or  more  typical  cases  of  yellow  fever.  I  made  it  an  essen- 
tial condition  that  the  autopsies  should  be  made  within  an  hour, 
or,  at  the  outside,  two  hours  after  death,  so  that  there  might 
be  no  question  of  postmortem  changes.  Small  pieces  of  the 
organs  named  were  to  be  put  up  at  once  into  a  large  quantity 
of  strong  alcohol.  The  specimen  arrived  in  good  condition, 
and,  upon  microscopic  examination,  the  liver  and  kidneys 
showed  the  pathological  changes  constantly  found  in  the  dis- 
ease in  question. 

During  the  winter  of  1884-85  I  mounted  numerous  thin 
sections  from  material,  stained  with  various  aniline  colors.  In 
none  of  these  did  I  find  any  micro-organisms,  except  upon  the 
surface  of  the  mucous  membrane,  in  sections  of  the  stomach 
where  various  organisms  —  bacilli  and  micrococci  —  were  to 
be  seen  in  properly  stained  sections.     .     .     . 

In  the  autumn  of  1885,  during  a  visit  to  Dr.  Koch's  labora- 
tory in  Berlin,  I  had  an  opportunity  to  avail  myself  of  the 
suggestions  and  valuable  assistance  of  the  master  of  bacteri- 
ology and  I  again  studied  the  material  which  Dr.  Burgess  had 
sent  me  from  Havana  by  the  various  methods  of  staining  con- 
sidered to  be  most  useful  in  such  research.  At  the  request  of 
Dr.  Koch  I  was  assisted  in  this  research  by  Dr.  Carl  Seitz, 
who  was  at  that  time  engaged  upon  his  studies  of  typhoid 
fever,  and  was  an  expert  in  staining  and  mounting  thin  sections 
of  the  tissues.  Dr.  Seitz  and  myself  examined  numerous  sec- 
tions of  liver  and  kidney  stained  by  various  methods,  with 
entirely  negative  results,  so  far  as  the  presence  of  micro- 
organisms was  concerned. 

After  my  return  to  Baltimore  in  1886  I  again  made  numerous 
sections  from  the  same  material  and  stained  with  Loeffler's 
alkaline  solution  of  methylene  blue,  which  we  had  also  used  in 
Dr.  Koch's  laboratory,  and  with  other  aniline  colors,  but  with- 
out any  better  success.  Desiring  to  repeat  these  researches 
upon  fresh  material,  I  wrote  to  my  friend,  Dr.  Burgess,  during 
my  stay  at  Rio  (June  and  July,  1887)  requesting  him  again 
to  collect  pathological  material  for  me  from  at  least  four  cases 
of  yellow  fever,  so  that  after  my  return  to  Baltimore  I  might 
continue  these  investigations.    As  before,  this  material  was  to 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  121 

be  obtained  as  soon  as  possible  after  death,  that  autopsies 
should  be  made  within  an  hour,  or,  at  the  outside,  two  hours 
after  death  and  to  be  put  at  once  into  strong  alcohol. 

About  the  first  of  December  I  received  from  Dr.  Burgess 
the  desired  material  in  good  condition. 

I  have  made  a  large  number  of  very  thin  sections,  which  I 
have  studied  and  stained  by  various  methods  of  staining  and 
with  objectives  of  high  power,  the  one-eighteenth  and  the 
one-twelfth  inch  homogeneous  oil  immersion  of  Zeiss. 
The  result  of  this  research  has  again  been  negative  so  far  as 
the  general  presence  of  any  particular  micro-organism  in  the 
material  examined  is  concerned. 

PHOTOMICROGRAPHS 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  very  proficient  in  the  preparation  of 
photomicrographs,  which  process  he  had  successfully  employed 
in  his  numerous  bacteriologic  demonstrations  and  later  in  illus- 
trations for  his  textbook  of  bacteriology.  On  this  phase  of 
his  investigation  he  reports : 

I  have  made  photomicrographs  of  the  micro-organisms 
encountered  in  my  researches  both  for  the  purpose  of  illus- 
trating my  report  and  as  the  best  method  of  studying  their 
morphology  and  comparing  one  with  another.  All  bacteriolo- 
gists now  recognize  that  as  a  rule  it  is  impossible  to  identify 
the  different  species  of  bacteria  by  their  morphological  char- 
acters. There  are  a  number  of  distinct  species  of  micrococci 
and  of  bacilli,  which  resemble  each  other  so  closely  in  form  and 
dimensions,  that  it  is  impossible  for  experts  to  decide  from  a 
microscopical  examination  alone  whether  they  are  identical  or 
not.  This  can  only  be  determined  by  other  characters,  such  as 
growth  in  various  culture  media,  pathogenic  power,  etc.  But, 
on  the  other  hand  constant  morphological  differences  enables 
us  to  differentiate  micro-organisms  of  this  class  and  such 
differences  are  shown  in  well  made  photomicrographs,  which 
enable  us  promptly  to  recognize  differences  of  form,  of  dimen- 
sions and  of  arrangements.  Measurements  are  also  made  with 
great  ease  when  such  photomicrographs  have  been  made  with 
a  standard  of  amplification. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Dr  Sternberg  published  these  researches  in  his  report  on  the 
"Etiology  and  Prevention  of  Yellow  Fever"  in  1890  by  order  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  the  Act  of  Congress 
approved  March  3,  1887.  The  report  covers  271  pages,  with 
21  plates  and  reproductions  of  photomicrographs,  illustrating 


122  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

the  numerous  micro-organisms,  and  was  accompanied  by  180 
microscopic  slides,  which  were  deposited  in  the  Army  Medical 
Museum.    Dr.  Sternberg  formulated  the  following  conclusions  : 

The  experimental  data  recorded  in  this  report  show  that 
the  specific  infectious  agent  in  yellow  fever  has  not  been 
demonstrated.  The  most  approved  bacteriological  methods  fail 
to  demonstrate  the  constant  presence  of  any  particular  micro- 
organism in  the  blood  and  tissues  of  yellow  fever  cadavers. 

Blood,  urine  and  crushed  liver  tissue  obtained  from  a  recent 
autopsy  are  not  pathogenic,  in  moderate  amount,  for  rabbits  or 
guinea  pigs.  Liver  tissue  preserved  in  an  antiseptic  wrapping 
at  a  temperature  of  28  to  30  C.  for  forty-eight  hours  is  very 
pathogenic  for  guinea  pigs  when  injected  subcutaneously.  This 
pathogenic  power  appears  to  be  due  to  the  micro-organisms 
present  and  to  the  toxic  products  developed  as  a  result  of  their 
growth.  It  is  not  peculiar  to  yellow  fever,  inasmuch  as  material 
preserved  in  the  same  way  at  comparative  autopsies,  in  which 
death  resulted  from  accident  or  other  diseases,  has  given  a 
similar  result. 

Having  failed  to  demonstrate  the  presence  of  a  specific  germ 
in  the  blood  and  tissues  it  seems  probable  that  it  is  to  be  found 
in  the  alimentary  canal,  as  in  cholera.  But  the  extended 
researches  made  and  recorded  in  the  present  report  show  that 
the  contents  of  the  intestine  of  yellow  fever  cases  contain  a 
great  variety  of  bacilli  and  not  a  nearly  pure  culture  of  a  single 
species,  as  is  the  case  in  recent  and  typical  cases  of  cholera. 

Dr.  Sternberg  had  doubtless  hoped  that  his  researches  might 
lead  to  the  discovery  of  the  yellow  fever  germ,  a  discovery  alike 
creditable  to  American  science  and  useful  as  a  basis  for  pre- 
ventive and  curative  measures  in  this  pestilential  malady.  While 
the  result  was  a  great  disappointment  to  him,  he  realized  that 
his  work  had  not  been  in  vain  and  would  be  of  great  value  in 
guiding  future  investigators  in  this  field  of  research.  This 
hope  was  attained  in  his  lifetime.  His  thorough  and  painstak- 
ing work  is  not  disparaged  even  now,  for  although  it  was  long 
known  that  the  infectious  agent  is  transmitted  through  the 
sting  of  a  mosquito,  and  the  search  had  narrowed  down  to  the 
body  of  this  insect,  the  causative  organism  {Leptospira 
ictcroides)  has  only  recently  been  isolated  by  Dr.  Hideyo 
Noguchi,  member  of  a  commission  which  was  sent  by  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation  to  South  America  for  the  study  of 
foci  of  yellow  fever. 


YELLOW    FEVER    INVESTIGATIONS  123 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  prepared  for  such  a  possibility  as  shown 
by  a  paragraph  in  a  paper  read  at  the  quarantine  conference 
held  in  Montgomery,  Ala.,  in  March,  1889,  just  before  his  last 
research  work  in  Havana. 

I  may  say  before  going  any  further  that  my  faith  in  a  living 
infectious  agent  as  the  specific  cause  of  yellow  fever  is  by  no 
means  diminished  by  my  failure  thus  far  to  demonstrate  the 
exact  form  and  nature  of  this  hypothetical  "germ." 

The  present  state  of  knowledge  with  reference  to  the  etiology 
of  infectious  diseases  in  general,  and  well  known  facts  relating 
to  the  origin  and  spread  of  yellow  fever  epidemics  fully  justify 
such  a  belief.  But  yellow  fever  is  by  no  means  the  only  infecti- 
ous disease  in  which  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a 
living  infectious  agent  is  still  wanting.  In  the  eruptive  fevers 
generally  no  demonstration  has  been  made  of  the  specific  eti- 
ological agent — at  least  none  which  has  been  accepted  by  com- 
petent pathologists  and  bacteriologists.  The  same  is  true  of 
hydrophobia,  in  which  disease  we  are  able  to  say  with  con- 
fidence the  infectious  agent  is  present  in  the  brain  and  spinal 
cord  of  animals  which  succumb  to  rabies ;  this  infectious  agent 
is  destroyed  by  a  temperature  which  is  fatal  to  known  patho- 
genic organisms  (65  C),  and  by  various  germicide  agents, 
yet  all  efforts  to  cultivate  it  or  to  demonstrate  its  presence  in 
the  infectious  material  by  staining  processes  and  microscopical 
examination  have  thus  far  been  unsuccessful. 

Dr.  Sternberg's  time  was  fully  occupied  during  these  investi- 
gations as  must  be  evident  from  the  thorough  study  of  the  vari- 
ous micro-organisms  isolated  by  him,  his  numerous  culture 
experiments  and  the  preparation  of  180  microscopic  slides  of  his 
pathologic  material.  While  in  Baltimore  he  did  most  of  his 
pathologic  work  and  not  only  completed  the  report  referred 
to  in  the  foregoing,  but  also  his  first  report  on  yellow  fever 
work  in  Cuba,  Brazil,  Mexico  and  Decatur,  Ala.1  In  addition 
he  was  subject  to  interruptions  by  his  official  duties  as  attending 
surgeon  and  examiner  of  recruits,  and  as  a  member  of  boards 
for  the  examination  of  candidates  for  admission  into  the  Med- 
ical Corps.  Years  have  passed  since  Dr.  Sternberg's  pioneer 
research  work  was  done  and  a  new  generation  has  arrived  on 
the  stage  of  life,  for  whom  he  paved  the  way  to  final  success 
by  his  exclusion  of  numerous  suspected  organisms.  If  I  have 
succeeded  in  impressing  the  younger  members  of  the  profes- 


1.  See   Report  of  the   Supervising   Surgeon-General   of  the   United 
States  Marine  Hospital  Service,  1889,  p.  137-233. 


124  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

sion  with  the  zeal,  thoroughness  and  accuracy  displayed  by  Dr. 
Sternberg  in  his  efforts  to  unravel  the  mystery  of  yellow  fever, 
I  shall  feel  amply  repaid.  It  was  given  to  him  to  know  at 
least  how  to  combat  one  of  the  greatest  scourges  of  the  past, 
and  it  has  recently  fallen  to  the  lot  of  an  investigator  from  an 
American  institute  of  medical  research  (Dr.  Hideyo  Noguchi), 
working  in  conjunction  with  one  of  the  successors  of  General 
Sternberg  in  the  office  of  Surgeon-General  (Gen.  William  C. 
Gorgas)  to  demonstrate  the  causative  agent  of  the  disease. 
I  am  informed  that  this  discovery  was  made  possible  by  the 
introduction  of  dark  field  illumination  and  improved  culture 
methods. 


CHAPTER    TEN 
MEDICAL    PURVEYOR    AT    SAN    FRANCISCO 

A  vacancy  in  the  grade  of  Lieutenant  Colonel  in  the  Medical 
Corps  occurred  in  October,  1890.  Dr.  Sternberg  had  been  the 
ranking  Major  in  the  corps  for  some  time  and  in  line  for 
promotion  to  the  grade  of  Lieutenant  Colonel.  With  this  pro- 
motion we  knew  would  come  an  order  for  a  change  of  sta- 
tion, a  fact  which  caused  us  no  little  regret.  The  work  con- 
nected with  his  duty  in  the  Army  would  probably  interfere 
with  his  experiments  in  bacteriology.  He  had  just  completed 
a  lengthy  report  giving  the  results  of  his  investigations  of 
yellow  fever,  but  there  still  remained  certain  experimental 
work  which  he  wished  to  do.  The  order  detailing  Dr.  Stern- 
berg as  medical  purveyor  at  San  Francisco  was  issued  October 
3,  1890.  The  duties  required  of  him  in  this  capacity  were  of  a 
strictly  business  character,  and  it  was  very  painful  for  him  to 
give  up  his  researches.  When  professional  friends  came  to  say 
good-bye,  I  heard  him  speak  of  the  topics  he  had  long  wished 
to  take  up  and  he  was  already  estimating  the  possibility  of 
doing  some  of  this  work  in  addition  to  his  duties  as  medical 
purveyor. 

The  tour  of  duty  in  San  Francisco  was  for  Dr.  Sternberg  a 
sudden  and  complete  change  of  mental  occupation.  Still,  with 
all  the  exactions  of  a  large  business  to  transact  and  keep  in 
perfect  running  order,  he  found  time  to  do  a  great  deal  of 
reading  in  modern  science  and  to  write  on  his  favorite  subjects. 
He  was  particularly  interested  in  bacteriologic  research  by 
experts  in  other  countries  so  that  he  might  bring  his  Manual  of 
Bacteriology  fully  up  to  date.  As  a  student  of  preventive 
medicine  he  paid  special  attention  to  the  eradication  of  prevent- 
able disease,  and  for  this  reason  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  accept 
invitations  to  address  professional  and  public  audiences  on 
topics  which  instructed  the  physicians  and  the  public  in  the 
application  of  scientific  methods  to  the  cause  of  humanity. 
Most  of  his  lectures  were  illustrated  with  lantern  slides  of 
photomicrographs  made  by  himself.  He  spoke  in  a  pleasant 
tone  of  voice,  knew  his  subject  perfectly  and  made  his  points 
clear.     His  popular  subjects  related  largely  to  the  causes  and 


126  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

prevention  of  tuberculosis,  typhoid  fever,  malaria,  diphtheria, 
scarlet  fever  and  infection  and  susceptibility  to  infection.  In 
some  cities  he  gave  expert  information  in  regard  to  the  hygiene 
of  water  supply  and  drainage,  and  advised  on  methods  for 
the  removal  of  unsanitary  conditions.  In  matters  of  sanitation, 
he  considered  public  education  more  effective  than  legislation. 
So  deeply  engrossed  was  he  with  his  official  business  and 
scientific  pursuits,  that  he  scarcely  gave  himself  an  hour's 
leisure.  It  devolved  upon  me  to  plan  diversion  for  his  mental 
and  physical  welfare.  His  interest  in  botany  gave  me  excuse 
to  suggest  short  trips  to  Monterey  and  other  coastal  resorts, 
to  the  beautiful  Santa  Clara  Valley  and  to  San  Jose.  Many 
times  we  drove  to  Golden  Gate  Park,  a  magnificently  cultivated 
tract  of  one  thousand  acres  fronting  the  ocean.  Its  con- 
servatories have  many  exotic  plants,  rare  begonias  and  orchids, 
while  groves  of  bamboo  and  of  Australian  trees  give  the 
impression  of  residence  in  the  subtropics. 

PUBLICATION     OF     MANUAL     OF     BACTERIOLOGY 

In  addition  to  his  regular  duties  as  medical  purveyor,  Dr. 
Sternberg  served  as  member  of  a  board  to  examine  officers  of 
the  Corps  of  Engineers,  with  a  view  to  determining  their  fitness 
for  promotion,  and  on  surveys  for  ascertaining  and  fixing  the 
responsibility  for  any  loss  or  damage  of  quartermasters'  stores 
and  garrison  equipage.  But  his  most  exacting  and  painstaking 
labor  was  devoted  to  the  completion  of  his  monumental  work 
on  bacteriology.  This  volume  covered  900  pages,  and  gave  an 
extensive  account  and  systematic  classification  of  micro-organ- 
isms, describing  nearly  500  species,  including  158  pathogenic 
varieties.  Many  of  the  illustrations  were  from  photomicro- 
graphs prepared  by  Dr.  Sternberg.  The  treatise  was  for  many 
years  the  leading  manual  for  teachers  and  physicians,  and  an 
instructive  textbook  for  students  of  medicine.  Dr.  Walter 
Reed,  who  later  attained  fame  for  scientific  work  in  the  same 
field,  commented  on  the  book  in  the  following  letter: 

Headquarters  Department  of  Dakota, 

St.  Paul,  Minn.,  March  28,  1893. 
Dear  Doctor: 

Please  accept  my  heartiest  thanks  for  the  cultures  which 
arrived  in  good  shape,  a  few  days  ago.  I  should  be  very  glad 
to  give  more  of  my  time  to  bacteriology,  but,  alas,  my  dear 


SAN    FRANCISCO  127 

doctor,  when  most  interested  I  must  stop  for  practical  things, 
so  that  I  can  only  do  the  merest  "dabbling."  I  have  your  new 
work,  which  was  sent  to  me  on  special  requisition.  How  an 
Army  medical  officer,  in  the  midst  of  daily  routine  work,  could 
have  written  so  excellent  and  so  exhaustive  a  work,  I  can't 
understand.  Besides  reflecting  the  greatest  credit  on  our  Corps, 
it  must  always  stand  as  a  monument  to  your  energy  and  ability. 
Again  thanking  you  for  your  kindness,  I  remain, 
Sincerely  yours, 

Walter  Reed. 

attending  surgeon  at  new  york 
Dr.  Sternberg  was  relieved  from  duty  in  the  purveying  depot 
of  San  Francisco,  Feb.  2,  1892,  by  orders  which  assigned  him 
to  New  York  as  attending  surgeon  and  examiner  of  recruits. 
We  preferred  to  go  East  by  the  Southern  Pacific  R.  R.,  to  give 
Dr.  Sternberg  opportunity  to  visit  a  sister  living  in  Los  Angeles. 
On  arriving  in  New  York  we  engaged  accommodations  well 
uptown,  quite  near  the  Windsor  Hotel.  The  house  was  large 
and  well  located  on  a  crosstown  street.  Dr.  Sternberg's  duty 
obliged  him  to  be  at  the  Army  Building  (foot  of  Broadway)  at 
an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  and  in  order  to  accomplish  this 
he  journeyed  back  and  forth  on  the  elevated  road.  The  daily 
trips  on  crowded  and  illventilated  cars  proved  very  fatiguing 
and  we  therefore  located  at  the  St.  George  Hotel  in  Brooklyn, 
very  near  the  foot  of  Broadway.  The  change  seemed  all  the 
more  desirable  as  we  had  friends  living  in  Brooklyn,  and  a 
number  of  Army  and  Navy  officers  were  stopping  at  the  same 
hotel. 

Dr.  Sternberg  had  been  for  some  time  the  director  by  cor- 
respondence of  the  Hoagland  laboratory  for  bacteriologic 
research.  This  laboratory  was  built  and  endowed  by  a  wealthy 
citizen  of  Brooklyn,  Dr.  C.  N.  Hoagland,  and  Dr.  E.  H.  Wilson 
was  in  active  charge.  It  was  proposed  by  Dr.  Wilson  that  I 
should  do  some  laboratory  work  and  act  as  chaperon  for  a 
large  class  of  lady  students  from  the  Pratt  Institute  contemplat- 
ing a  course  at  the  laboratory.  The  class  after  learning  gen- 
eral laboratory  technic  and  how  to  make  culture  media, 
studied  the  bacteriology  of  drinking  water,  of  the  milk  supply 
of  the  city,  made  gelatin  cultures  from  the  air,  and  did  various 
routine  procedures.  No  pathogenic  or  disease  germs  were  given 
them  for  cultivation  or  isolation.    I  had  learned  earlier  how  to 


128  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

make  cultures,  and  how  to  use  the  microscope  with  high  power 
lenses,  and  was  fairly  familiar  with  other  details. 

While  we  were  examining  the  growths  from  samples  of  the 
drinking  water,  I  isolated  an  organism  that  gave  me  consider- 
able uneasiness.  It  was  new  to  me ;  I  made  several  cultures 
because  it  acted  so  strangely  that  I  thought  I  must  have  con- 
taminated my  culture  from  my  needle  or  some  unknown  source. 
On  the  first  day  the  organism  looked  very  much  like  the 
bacillus  of  tuberculosis,  by  the  second  day  it  had  lost  all  resem- 
blance. After  trying  hard  to  solve  my  problem,  I  spoke  of  it  to 
Dr.  Sternberg.  One  day  he  walked  over  to  the  laboratory  with 
me.  I  again  prepared  my  slide  and  placed  it  under  the  micro- 
scope. Dr.  Sternberg  noted  its  resemblance  to  the  tubercle 
bacillus,  but  cautioned  against  mentioning  it  lest  all  Brooklyn 
be  wild  to  think  that  the  water  supply  was  contaminated.  But 
when  he  saw  the  slide  I  prepared  on  the  following  morning,  he 
concluded  that  my  "discovery"  was  an  interesting  specimen  of 
protozoa  not  previously  described.  I  had  the  privilege  of  nam- 
ing it  after  Dr.  Hoagland,  the  generous  founder  of  the  labora- 
tory. Years  after  I  was  informed  by  Dr.  Wilson  that  they  still 
carried  a  culture  of  my  "find"  at  the  laboratory. 

CONSULTANT    IN    CHOLERA    QUARANTINE 

In  September,  1892,  because  of  the  prevalence  of  an  epidemic 
of  cholera  in  Hamburg,  a  vessel  bound  for  New  York  was 
detained  at  the  quarantine  station.  Prompt  steps  had  to  be 
taken  to  prevent  the  spread  of  the  disease  in  the  United  States, 
and  Dr.  Sternberg  (primarily  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Ohr,  pres- 
ident of  the  chamber  of  commerce),  was  called  into  consulta- 
tion, which  action  was  approved  by  the  following  official 
communication  from  the  Surgeon-General's  office. 

Lieut.  Colonel  George  M.  Sternberg, 

Attending  Surgeon  and  Examiner  of  Recruits, 
New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Sir: 

I  am  directed  by  the  Surgeon  General  to  say  that  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  has  approved  the  request  of  Allen  McLane  Hamil- 
ton, M.D.,  Secretary  of  the  Special  Cholera  Committee,  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  New  York  City,  N.  Y.,  for  your  temporary 
detachment  for  service  with  Dr.  Jenkins,  Health  Officer  at  the 


SAN    FRANCISCO  129 

Port  of  New  York,  and  the  fact  was  communicated  to  you  by 
telegraph  this  morning. 

The  Surgeon  General  desires  that  you  will  leave  notice  at 
your  office  in  the  City  of  New  York,  that  ordinary  calls  for 
professional  service  from  the  officers  on  duty  in  the  city  will  be 
attended  to  by  Dr.  A.  B.  Townsend,  under  the  provisions  of 
G.  O.  No.  75,  A.G.O.  Sept.  2,  1881.  Upon  your  return  to  the 
city  you  will  please  have  Dr.  Townsend's  account  made  up  and 
forwarded  to  this  office  for  payment. 

Very  respectfully, 

Chas.  R.  Greenleaf, 
Deputy  Surgeon  General,  U.  S.  Army. 

This  detail  required  Dr.  Sternberg  to  be  on  duty  at  the 
quarantine  station  on  Staten  Island,  and  he  accepted  the  kind 
invitation  of  Dr.  Jenkins  to  be  his  guest  while  engaged  in  this 
work.  Dr.  Sternberg  was  at  that  time  considered  an  authority 
on  cholera ;  he  had  learned  much  from  experience  in  combating 
a  severe  epidemic  at  Fort  Harker,  Kan.,  in  1867,  and  had 
devoted  much  time  in  the  laboratory  to  the  study  of  the  causa- 
tive agent  and  methods  of  sterilization  by  physical  and  chemical 
means. 

At  the  request  of  the  health  officer  of  the  port,  Dr.  Stern- 
berg made  exhaustive  tests  of  the  efficacy  of  disinfection  meth- 
ods employed  at  Hoffman's  Island,  the  results  of  which  were 
summarized  in  published  articles.1 

As  a  singular  triumph  of  American  preventive  medicine  it 
may  be  pointed  out  that  although  cholera  affected  over  17,000 
persons  and  caused  8,605  deaths  at  Hamburg,  and  had  been 
brought  to  our  very  shores,  not  a  single  case  developed  in  this 
country,  rwor  has  it  ever  gained  a  foothold  during  the  succeeding 
years. 

After  Dr.  Sternberg's  relief  from  special  detail  at  the  quar- 
antine station  he  received  assignments  to  duty  on  various 
special  boards.  The  first  was  for  an  examination  of  an  officer 
with  a  view  to  his  selection  for  transfer  to  the  Ordnance 
Department.  Shortly  after  this,  another  order  came  to  serve 
on  a  board  to  investigate  the  sanitary  condition  of  Madison 


1.  Disinfection  at  Quarantine  Stations,  Especially  Against  Cholera, 
New  York  M.  J.  57:57,  1893;  How  Can  We  Prevent  Cholera?  Med.-Leg. 
J.  11:1,  1893;  The  Biological  Characters  of  the  Cholera  Spirillum, 
Spirillum  Cholerae  Asiaticae  (Comma  Bacillus  of  Koch)  and  Disin- 
fection in  Cholera,  Med.  Rec.  42 :  387,  1892. 


130  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Barracks  in  connection  with  an  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever,  and 
to  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War  what  measures  were  neces- 
sary to  establish  sanitary  conditions  specially  in  respect  to  the 
water  supply.  This  was  scarcely  accomplished,  when  he  was 
detailed  on  a  board  to  meet  at  New  York  City  for  examination 
of  such  officers  as  might  be  ordered  before  it  with  a  view  to 
determining  their  fitness  for  promotion. 

In  the  meantime,  we  heard  of  the  prospective  retirement  of 
Surg.-Gen.  Charles  Sutherland.  All  the  senior  officers  of  the 
Medical  Corps  were  naturally  interested  to  know  who  was  to  be 
the  new  Surgeon-General  of  the  Army.  Dr.  Sternberg  had 
learned  that  other  officers  of  the  Corps,  junior  to  him,  had  for- 
warded papers  and  stated  reasons  for  their  selection  for  the 
office.  He  therefore  submitted  his  own  testimonials  and  pre- 
sented his  claims,  and  we  were  naturally  anxiously  awaiting 
the  results. 


CHAPTER    ELEVEN 
APPOINTMENT    AS     SURGEON-GENERAL 

May  30,  1893,  Dr.  Sternberg  received  a  telegram  telling  him 
he  had  been  appointed  by  the  President  as  Surgeon-General  of 
the  Army.  He  came  at  once  to  Brooklyn,  but  not  finding  me 
at  home  he  hurried  to  the  Hoagland  laboratory.  It  was  an 
unusual  hour  for  his  return  and  I  suspected  what  brought  him — 
for  I  had  just  received  a  telegram  giving  me  the  same  informa- 
tion. He  stepped  quickly  to  me  and  said :  "Put  up  your  micro- 
scope, my  dear,  for  I  have  something  to  tell  you  that  will  cause 
you  to  be  happy."  He  was  very  silent  on  the  way  home  and 
when  we  were  alone  he  looked  seriously  into  my  face  and  said : 
"I  do  not  know  whether  I  am  happy  or  not.  I  face  great 
responsibilities  and  it  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  satisfy  every- 
body, and  when  I  make  one  man  happy  by  recognizing  his 
ability  there  will  be  many  others  disappointed  and  disgruntled, 
so  I  scarcely  know  if  I  am  to  be  congratulated  or  not.  But  I 
know  the  Medical  Corps  and  am  proud  of  the  Corps.  I  have  no 
family  and  I  shall  consider  the  medical  officers  my  family  and 
will  give  every  man  a  chance.  I  shall  endeavor  to  promote  a 
truly  scientific  spirit  in  the  Corps  and  where  I  recognize  special 
ability,  I  will  do  all  I  can  to  aid  the  respective  officer  to 
achieve  success." 

He  adhered  strictly  to  this  resolution  throughout  his  entire 
administration,  and  his  policy  resulted  in  stimulating  not  only 
interest  and  enthusiasm  on  the  part  of  individual  members  of 
the  Medical  Corps  in  scientific  work,  but  also  in  the  professional 
development  of  many  members  of  the  Corps,  of  whom  we  are 
all  justly  proud.  These  men  in  my  humble  opinion  owe  their 
success  largely  to  the  inspiration  and  encouragement  received 
from  General  Sternberg,  who  was  himself  thoroughly  equipped 
for  modern  scientific  work.  In  this  opinion  I  am  amply  sup- 
ported by  the  judgment  of  former  Secretary  of  War,  Hon. 
Elihu  Root,  and  by  the  following  quotation : 

In  accordance  with  the  liberal  policies  of  General  Sternberg's 
administration,  Major  Walter  Reed  [1851-1903]  was  sent  to 
pursue  advanced  studies  in  pathology  and  bacteriology  under 
Professor  Welch  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  Hospital  and 


132  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

in  Welch's  laboratory  made  an  important  investigation  of  the 
lymphoid  nodules  of  the  liver  in  typhoid  fever  ( 1895).  In  1900 
Reed  was  detailed  as  the  head  of  a  board,  which  included  James 
Carroll,  Aristides  Agramonte  and  Jesse  W.  Lazear  to  study 
yellow  fever  in  Cuba.1 

As  this  important  work  of  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission  was 
also  intimately  connected  with  the  life  and  work  of  General 
Sternberg,  it  will  be  considered  in  the  regular  chronologic  order. 

General  Sternberg  proceeded  at  once  to  Washington  to 
assume  his  new  duties.  It  was  necessary  that  I  should  superin- 
tend the  packing  and  shipping  of  our  household  effects,  and 
some  of  our  own  laboratory  apparatus.  General  Sternberg 
selected  a  nice  apartment  of  four  rooms  at  the  Richmond 
Hotel,  as  we  wished  to  have  time  to  choose  our  new  home.  In 
the  autumn  we  purchased  a  new  house  on  Sixteenth  Street,  four 
squares  from  the  office  of  the  Surgeon-General  in  the  War 
Department.  For  the  first  time  in  four  years  we  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  having  all  our  household  belongings  together,  and 
we  had  a  new  sensation  as  we  hung  our  Indian  trophies  and 
curios  in  our  own  halls. 

ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE    ARMY    MEDICAL    SCHOOL 

Very  soon  after  taking  over  the  office  of  Surgeon-General 
Dr.  Sternberg  recommended  the  establishment  of  the  Army 
Medical  School  in  Washington,  D.  C,  which  was  accomplished 
by  General  Order  No.  51,  Adjutant  General's  Office,  June  24, 
1893. 

By  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  upon  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  Surgeon-General  of  the  Army,  an  Army  Medical 
School  will  be  established  in  the  city  of  Washington  for  the 
purpose  of  instructing  approved  candidates  for  admission  to 
the  Medical  Corps  of  the  Army  in  their  duties  as  medical 
officers. 

The  course  of  instruction  will  be  for  four  months,  and  will 
be  given  annually  at  the  Army  Medical  Museum,  in  Wash- 
ington City,  commencing  on  the  first  day  of  November. 

Four  professors  will  be  selected  from  among  the  senior  med- 
ical officers  of  the  Army  stationed  in  or  near  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington, and  as  many  associate  professors  as  may  be  required 
to  give  practical  laboratory  instruction  in  the  methods  of  sani- 
tary analyses,  microscopical  technique,  clinical  microscopy, 
bacteriology,  urine  analysis,  etc. 

1.  McCulloch,  Col.  C.  G;  Scientific  Monthly  4:410  (May)  1917. 


SURGEON-GENERAL  133 

The  faculty  of  the  Army  Medical  School  will  consist  of — 

1.  A  President  of  the  Faculty,  who  shall  be  responsible  for 
the  discipline  of  the  school,  and  who  will  deliver  a  course  of 
lectures  upon  the  duties  of  medical  officers  in  war  and  peace 
(including  property  responsibility,  examination  of  recruits,  cer- 
tificates of  disability,  reports,  rights  and  privileges,  customs  of 
service,  etc.). 

2.  A  Professor  of  Military  Surgery  (including  the  care  and 
transportation  of  wounded). 

3.  A  Professor  of  Military  Hygiene  (including  practical 
instruction  in  the  examination  of  air,  water,  food,  and  clothing 
from  a  sanitary  point  of  view). 

4.  A  Professor  of  Clinical  and  Sanitary  Microscopy  (includ- 
ing bacteriology  and  urinology). 

By  command  of  Major  General  Scofield: 

R.  Williams,  Adjutant  General. 
Official : 
Assistant  Adjutant  General. 

In  announcing  the  members  of  the  faculty,  General  Sternberg 
presented  a  brief  statement  outlining  the  purpose  and  plans  of 
this  new  center  of  medico-military  education,  in  which  he 
declared  that  although  there  is  no  need  to  teach  medecine  or 
surgery  to  well  educated  graduates  of  our  medical  colleges, 
there  are  certain  duties  pertaining  to  the  position  of  an  Army 
medical  officer,  for  which  the  college  course  of  these  young 
men  has  not  prepared  them,  and  certain  of  these  duties  are 
more  important  than  the  clinical  treatment  of  individual  cases 
of  disease  and  injury,  because  the  efficiency  of  a  command,  of 
an  Army  even,  may  depend  on  proper  performance. 

During  the  past  twenty  years  the  prevention  of  disease  has 
made  infinitely  greater  progress  than  its  cure.  Recognizing  this 
fact  health  officers  have  been  appointed,  and  health  boards 
organized  by  civil  communities  for  their  own  protection. 

A  special  education  is  needful  to  prepare  a  medical  man  to 
undertake  the  responsibility  of  protecting  the  public  health. 
The  Army  medical  officer  is  the  health  officer  of  his  command, 
but  the  young  graduate  seldom  is  equipped  with  the  knowledge 
or  experience  necessary  for  efficient  action  in  this  position.  The 
course  at  the  Army  Medical  School  will  prepare  him  to  cope 
with  the  question  of  practical  sanitation  that  will  be  presented 
to  him  at  every  turn  in  his  military  career ;  questions  of  site,  and 
soil,  and  buildings ;  of  ventilation,  heating  and  occupancy ;  of 
drainage,  sewerage  and  disposal  of  garbage;  of  the  wholesome- 
ness  of  water  supplies,  and  the  various  articles  of  food  includ- 
ing the  contractor's  herd,  the  slaughterhouse,  the  subsistence, 


134  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

storerooms,  the  kitchens  and  mess  halls ;  the  practical  value  of 
disinfectants,  the  bacteria  which  they  destroy  and  the  ptomaines 
which  these  elaborate — all  bearing  upon  the  preservation  of  the 
health  of  the  military  community  under  his  sanitary  care. 

The  school  has  already  enjoyed  many  years  of  usefulness, 
and  during  the  year  1917  graduated  over  200  young  medical 
officers.  Those  who  have  attended  are  sincere  in  their  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  benefits  derived  from  a  thorough  and  practical 
course  of  instruction.  I  consider  this  school  and  the  establish- 
ment of  laboratories  of  bacteriology  and  hygiene  one  of  the 
greatest  achievements  of  General  Sternberg's  administration. 

CONGRATULATORY    MESSAGES 

The  selection  of  Dr.  Sternberg  as  Surgeon-General  of  the 
Army  evoked  felicitous  messages  from  a  host  of  his  friends,  but 
none  were  so  much  appreciated  as  those  which  came  from  his 
colleagues  and  co-workers  in  the  medical  and  scientific  world. 
A  few  examples  will  serve  to  show  their  general  import. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  May  30,  1893. 
Dear  General : — 

In  sending  my  congratulations,  I  wish  to  say  that  when  I 
nominated  you  for  President  of  the  Section  on  Military  Sur- 
gery of  the  Pan-American  Congress  at  St.  Louis  and  fought  it 
through  ...  I  had  no  idea  that  I  was  speaking  for  the 
future  Surgeon-General,  nor  yet  when  I  notified  you  that  I 
named  the  new  quarantine  boat  at  San  Francisco  for  you.  I 
only  recognized  the  accomplished  medical  officer  and  the  skilled 
bacteriologist,  and  I  am  pleased  that  the  high  authorities  having 
the  appointing  power  have  thus  rewarded  merit. 

I  am  very  truly  yours, 

John  B.  Hamilton. 

Brig. -Gen.  Sternberg, 
Surgeon-General,  U.  S.  Army. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  May  30,  1893. 
I  cannot  leave  Washington  without  these  few  lines  to  say 
how   pleased   I   am  to  be  able  to  congratulate   you   on  the 
well  earned  honor  that  has  been  conferred  upon  you. 

It  is  peculiarly  satisfactory  to  think  that  pure  science  has 
been  recognized  in  this  appointment. 

Will  you  kindly  convey  my  regards  to  Mrs.  Sternberg 
and   I  am, 

Sincerely  yours, 

H.  P.  Walcott. 


SURGEON-GENERAL  135 

Headquarters    Department    of    Dakota, 

St.  Paul,  Minn.,  May  30,  1893. 
Surg.-Gen.  George  M.  Sternberg,  U.  S.  Army, 

New  York. 
Dear  Doctor: — 

Although  I  have  sent  you  a  telegram  of  congratulations 
upon  your  richly  deserved  promotion,  I  cannot  refrain  from 
writing  just  a  line  to  express  my  gratification  over  the 
President's  handsome  tribute  to  honest  merit.  When  I 
think  that  it  places  at  the  head  of  the  Corps  the  one  man 
who  preeminently  stands  forth  as  the  representative  of 
progressive  scientific  medicine  and  that  it  means  that  the 
fossil  age  has  passed,  I  have  an  irresistible  desire  to  toss 
my  very  hat  in  the  air.  I  kriow  what  pleasure  it  will  give 
to  Professor  Welch,  Dr.  Abbott  and  Dr.  Councilman,  all  of 
whom  have  so  many  times  spoken  of  your  untiring  energy 
and  ability. 

I  shall  always  remember  Dr.  Abbott's  remark,  made  to 
me  on  one  occasion,  when  he  said :  "All  that  I  am  and 
know  concerning  bacteriology,  I  owe  to  a  member  of  your 
Corps — Dr.   Sternberg." 

Having  no  favors  to  ask,  my  dear  Doctor,  I  can  all  the 
more  sincerely  congratulate  you. 

Believe  me,  very  truly  yours, 

Walter  Reed. 

5  West  Fifty-eighth  Street,  New  York  City. 
My  dear  Dr.  Sternberg: — 

I  want  to  extend  my  warmest  congratulations  on  your  recent 
very  well  earned  promotion.  You  are  to  be  congratulated,  how- 
ever, not  so  much  on  the  promotion,  as  that  was  deserved,  but 
on  the  fact  that  your  ability  and  scientific  work  have  received 
the  recognition  they  merit.  I  was  delighted  to  hear  of  the 
appointment  and  the  only  regret  associated  with  it  is  the  fact 
that  it  takes  you  away  from  New  York.  I  sincerely  hope,  how- 
ever, that  I  may  have  the  pleasure  of  entertaining  you  occas- 
ionally in  New  York  when  pleasure  or  business  brings  you  here. 

Very  sincerely, 

Hermann  M.  Biggs. 

New  York,  May  31,  1893. 
Dear  Dr.  Sternberg: — 

I  must  congratulate  you  somewhat,  the  Medical  Department 
of  the  Army  more,  and  the  great  sanitary  interests  of  the  coun- 
try most,  on  your  accession  to  the  Surgeon-Generalship.  Your 
appointment  is  the  best  act  yet  performed  by  the  President  and 
deserves,  as  it  will  receive,  the  hearty  commendations  of  med- 
ical men  the  world  over.     I  am  glad  to  see  that  you  have  a 


136  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

decade  of  service — a  period  which  will  enable  you  to  effect 
great  reforms  not  only  in  your  Department,  but  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  National  Sanitary  Service. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Stephen  Smith. 

Philadelphia,  June  8,  1893. 
My  dear  Doctor: — 

Allow  me  to  present  you  my  warm  congratulations.  I  only 
hope  your  new  post  will  not  interfere  with  the  admirable  sci- 
entific work  for  which  we  are  all  indebted  to  you. 

Sincerely  yours, 

J.  M.  Da  Costa. 

ATTENDING     PHYSICIAN     TO     THE     PRESIDENT 

In  1893,  President  Cleveland  not  being  in  good  health,  his 
close  personal  friend  and  physician,  Dr.  Joseph  D.  Bryant,  came 
at  intervals  from  New  York  to  see  him  and  prescribe  for  him. 
Dr.  Bryant  asked  General  Sternberg  if  he  would  consent  to  see 
the  President  and  prescribe  for  him  should  Mr.  Cleveland 
require  special  medical  care  during  Dr.  Bryant's  absence.  Gen- 
eral Sternberg  agreed  to  respond  to  any  call  and  to  render  every 
possible  service.  The  President  had  great  responsibility  at  that 
time  and  the  constant  anxiety  caused  by  numerous  important 
and  vexatious  legislative  matters  was  a  tremendous  tax  on 
his  vitality.  Dr.  Sternberg  became,  therefore,  a  welcome 
adviser,  and  as  the  President's  physician,  he  was  greatly  loved 
and  trusted.  He  soon  became  very  much  attached  to  Mr.  Cleve- 
land, for  they  had  many  interests  in  common.  Both  were  sons 
of  ministers,  and  both  had  a  feeling  of  loyalty  and  love  for 
New  York  state.    In  due  time  they  became  very  good  friends. 

General  Sternberg's  professional  visits  to  the  White  House 
soon  led  to  his  being  in  request  for  members  of  the  presidential 
family,  when  they  needed  medical  advice.  In  the  Executive 
Mansion,  Mrs.  Cleveland  was  a  delightful  hostess  and  was 
greatly  loved  and  admired  by  all  who  knew  her.  She  was  a 
woman  of  wonderful  beauty  and  grace,  with  the  reputation  of 
"never  having  made  a  mistake  while  presiding  in  the  White 
House."  She  always  said  and  did  the  correct  thing,  although 
she  had  come  to  play  this  very  exacting  role  at  an  early  age. 
The  receptions  and  dinners  at  the  Executive  Mansion  were 
brilliant  and  enjoyable,  and  at  many  of  these  we  were  invited  to 


SURGEON-GENERAL  137 

the  Blue  Room  to  meet  the  Vice-President,  the  Supreme  Court 
judges,  the  ambassadors,  the  cabinet  officers,  prominent  Sena- 
tors and  Representatives,  ranking  Army  and  Navy  officers,  and 
distinguished  visitors  and  guests.  The  home  of  the  Secretary 
of  War  and  Mrs.  Lamont  was  also  a  popular  rendezvous  during 
his  period  of  office.  Mrs.  Lamont's  cordial  manner  caused  all 
Army  officers  and  their  wives  to  feel  that  she  really  was  inter- 
ested in  seeing  them,  and  they  went  frequently  to  her  recep- 
tions on  Wednesday  afternoons. 

OFFICIAL   ATTAINMENTS 

General  Sternberg  soon  reorganized  the  work  of  his  office 
and  inaugurated  many  new  and  important  measures  calculated 
to  promote  the  efficiency  of  the  Medical  Corps.  The  routine 
work  of  the  office  was  to  him  interesting  and  important.  Friends 
constantly  importuned  him  not  to  take  the  details  too  seriously, 
but  to  let  others  do  more  of  the  minutiae.  While  he  was  very 
fortunate  in  the  selection  of  his  associates,  who  gave  their  best 
efforts  to  the  work,  he  could  not  for  a  moment  forget  his  per- 
sonal responsibility  for  every  important  transaction. 

This  devotion  to  the  slightest  detail  of  his  position,  together 
with  special  tours  of  inspection  for  the  purpose  of  informing 
himself  on  conditions  in  the  field,  served  to  keep  his  time  fully 
occupied.  Before  relating  some  of  the  achievements  in  the 
promotion  of  efficiency  in  the  Medical  Corps,  a  few  words  may 
be  said  of  his  disappointments.  One  of  his  ambitions,  as  shown 
by  the  establishment  of  the  Army  Medical  School,  was  to  have 
a  thoroughly  trained,  full  time  corps  of  medical  officers,  well 
versed  in  sanitary  science  and  preventive  medicine.  One  can 
readily  imagine  his  chagrin  when,  during  the  congressional  ses- 
sion of  1893-1894,  the  House  of  Representatives  deemed  it  in 
the  interest  of  economy  to  reduce  the  numerical  strength  of  the 
Medical  Corps,  actually  contemplating  a  reduction  of  85  in  the 
number  of  Assistant  Surgeons.  General  Sternberg  did  all  in  his 
power  to  prevent  its  enactment,  but  the  bill  as  finally  passed 
reduced  the  number  of  Assistant  Surgeons  from  125  to  110, 
and  made  no  provision  for  the  employment  of  Acting  Assistant 
Surgeons  under  the  former  contract  system.  Hence,  in  1894, 
private  practitioners  could  be  employed  only  by  the  visit,  and 
they  were  not  available  for  taking  charge  of  a  post  hospital  or 


138  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

of  the  medical  property,  for  the  discipline  and  drill  of  the  Hos- 
pital Corps,  or  for  the  sanitary  supervision  of  a  post,  so  neces- 
sary for  the  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded.  Nor  could  they 
be  retained  for  medical  service  to  the  families  of  officers  and 
enlisted  men.  In  the  bill  from  which  I  glean  these  facts,  it  is 
stated  "that  it  may  be  necessary  in  several  instances  to  employ 
outside  attendance  of  physicians  for  the  smaller  posts,  but  that 
can  always  be  done  and  efficient  service  secured  at  the  cost  of 
from  one  fifth  to  one  fourth  of  the  present  average  salaries  of 
officers  of  the  Medical  Corps." 

While  it  is  true  that  practicing  physicians  from  civil  life  had 
been  employed  in  former  years  at  the  Arsenals  and  small  mili- 
tary stations,  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  they  could  be 
employed  at  a  regular  garrison  post,  large  or  small,  at  the  low 
estimate  cited  above.  A  post  surgeon  has  varied  and  important 
duties  to  perform  in  addition  to  caring  for  the  sick.  His  pres- 
ence as  a  member  of  the  garrison  is  more  important  than  that 
of  any  other  officer,  for  no  other  officer  can  perform  the  duties 
of  the  medical  officer.  When  the  matter  was  referred  to  him, 
the  Major  General  commanding  the  Army  replied  that  "at 
military  posts  it  is,  in  my  opinion,  impracticable  to  supply  the 
necessary  service  including  that  of  the  hospitals,  in  any  other 
way  than  through  the  regular  commissioned  officers."  Depart- 
ment commanders  were  of  the  opinion  that  "it  was  imprac- 
ticable to  substitute  physicians  living  near  a  garrison  for  the 
regular  Army  medical  officer."  In  spite  of  all  the  evidence  in 
favor  of  an  increase  in  the  strength  of  the  regular  Medical 
Corps,  it  required  many  years  to  secure  the  necessary  legisla- 
tion. 

But  notwithstanding  more  or  less  discouragement  and  legisla- 
tive embarrassment,  General  Sternberg  gradually  accomplished 
much  that  he  had  previously  planned  to  do.  He  directed  that 
medical  officers  be  supplied  with  the  most  important  recent 
medical  books  and  that  facilities  of  the  Library  of  the  Surgeon- 
General's  Office  be  freely  extended  by  mail  or  express  to  all 
medical  officers  engaged  in  literary  research.  He  secured  the 
assignment  of  medical  officers  to  stations  in  large  cities,  thus 
affording  them  unusual  advantages  for  clinical  work  and 
advanced  medical  studies,  and  he  expected  them  to  apply  the 
knowledge  thus  gained  in  the  treatment  of  the  sick  and  wounded 


SURGEON -GENERAL  139 

and  in  the  conservation  of  the  health  and  efficiency  of  the  troops. 
He  made  it  a  personal  matter  to  see  that  every  army  hospital  was 
properly  equipped  with  a  modern  operating  room  and  facilities 
for  clinical  microscopy,  while  the  larger  ones  were  supplied  with 
roentgen  ray  apparatus,  and  bacteriologic  outfits.  He  created 
a  special  hospital  at  Washington  Barracks  for  the  relief  of 
permanent  disabilities,  and  after  a  successful  demonstration  of 
the  economic  and  humane  advantages  of  this  plan  by  Surgeon 
William  C.  Borden,  he  directed  that  surgical  operation  be 
attempted  in  cases  of  hernia  and  other  curable  disabilities, 
instead  of  discharging  soldiers  or  retiring  officers,  thereby  ren- 
dering them  pensioners  of  the  Government.  In  like  manner,  he 
recommended  the  establishment  of  a  sanatorium  at  Fort  Bayard 
in  New  Mexico  for  the  treatment  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis. 
This  institution  has  accomplished  great  good,  not  merely  by 
restoring  many  men  to  active  duty  again,  but  also  by  the  humane 
care  extended  to  the  hopeless  cases,  and  the  protection  afforded 
to  the  families  of  the  afflicted  and  the  community  at  large. 
Since  its  establishment  in  1899  to  March  31,  1920,  it  has  cared 
for  12,984  patients.  General  Sternberg  organized  additional 
training  schools  for  the  Hospital  Corps  and  made  great 
improvements  in  the  hospital  accommodations  at  many  of  the 
military  posts.  He  also  carefully  revised  and  markedly 
improved  the  plans  of  five  new  hospitals  which  were  completed 
in  1895  at  Fort  Myer,  Va.,  Fort  McHenry,  Md.,  Plattsburg 
Barracks,  N.  Y.,  Fort  Meade,  S.  D.,  and  Fort  Harris,  Mont. 
Previous  to  this  date  hospitals  had  been  constructed  during  his 
administration  at  Washington  Barracks,  D.  C.,  and  at  Fort 
Logan  H.  Roots,  Ark. 

In  addition  to  his  official  duties,  General  Sternberg  found 
time  to  complete  an  important  treatise  on  Immunity,  Protective 
Inoculations  in  Infectious  Diseases  and  Serum  Therapy  (325 
pp.)  in  1895  and  also  prepared  the  second  edition  of  his  Manual 
on  Bacteriology  in  1896.  General  Sternberg  was  frequently 
urged  to  write  articles  for  the  medical  journals  and  for  the  lay 
press  to  elucidate  some  scientific  topic.  Not  having  any  chil- 
dren he  was  especially  fond  of  writing  articles  for  the  Youth's 
Companion  and  he  kept  up  these  contributions  until  near  the 
closing  days  of  his  life. 


140  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

While  Surgeon-General,  Dr.  Sternberg  derived  genuine  social 
pleasure  in  the  entertainment  of  guests  and  close  friends  as 
well  as  members  of  the  Medical  Corps.  He  was  always  consid- 
erate of  foreign  delegates  to  scientific  meetings  and  of  members 
of  international  congresses,  for  he  had  often  received  social 
recognition  when  representing  the  United  States  at  interna- 
tional congresses  in  Paris,  in  Rome,  and  elsewhere.  At  other 
times  he  was  in  close  touch  with  many  of  the  men  who  were 
prominent  in  biologic  work  in  our  own  country  and  in  foreign 
lands.  He  was  also  in  close  affiliation  with  the  members  of  the 
American  Public  Health  Association,  and  with  the  leaders  of 
the  American  Medical  Association  and  of  the  Association  of 
American  Physicians. 

In  the  fall  of  1894,  General  Sternberg  received  a  letter  from 
General  Miles  directing  his  attention  to  Dr.  Leonard  Wood. 
True  to  his  fixed  policy  to  encourage  recognized  merit  in  mem- 
bers of  the  Medical  Corps,  he  recommended  the  assignment  of 
Dr.  Wood  for  duty  in  Washington,  where  he  remained  until 
the  outbreak  of  the  Spanish  War,  having  in  the  meantime  also 
served  as  physician  to  the  White  House. 

Headquarters    Department   of   the    Missouri 
Office  of  the  Department  Commander 

Kansas  City,  Mo.,  Oct.  7,  1894. 
My  dear  General : — 

It  may  be  possible  that  in  the  many  changes  of  station  of 
troops  it  may  involve  some  changes  of  the  officers  of  the 
Medical  Department. 

Should  this  necessitate  a  change  of  station  of  Captain  and 
Assistant  Surgeon  Leonard  Wood,  I  would  respectfully  sug- 
gest and  recommend  that  he  be  stationed  at  Washington,  D.  C. 
I  feel  that  this  consideration  would  be  a  just  recognition  of  his 
valuable,  laborious  and  dangerous  services  and  it  would  greatly 
oblige 

Your  friend, 
Nelson  A.  Miles, 
Major  General,  U.  S.  Army. 
Surg.-Gen.  G.  M.  Sternberg, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

at    wood's    hole 
In  July,  1896,  we  spent  some  time  at  Wood's  Hole  in  Massa- 
chusetts, which  little  vacation  brought  needed  rest  and  recrea- 
tion.   While  there,  General  Sternberg  received  an  invitation  to 


SURGEON-GENERAL  141 

spend  a  day  with  President  Cleveland  at  "Gray  Gables"  and  try 
the  fishing  in  Buzzard's  Bay.  The  President  and  the  General 
put  off  in  a  little  boat  for  the  fishing  holes,  Mr.  Cleveland  in  a 
picturesque  outfit  which  made  a  lasting  impression  on  the 
General,  not  the  least  unique  feature  of  which  was  a  soft  hat, 
the  band  of  which  was  filled  with  fishing  hooks  and  flies  of 
every  kind. 

One  day  when  things  seemed  a  trifle  dull  at  the  hotel,  the 
proprietor  invited  the  guests  to  a  New  England  clam  bake  on 
the  sea  beach.  I  watched  this  entire  procedure  with  much 
interest,  for  it  seemed  to  me  that  it  must  have  originated  with 
the  aborigines  of  our  country.  The  men  thoroughly  cleaned 
some  large  flat  stones,  on  which  a  huge  fire  was  lighted.  When 
the  coals  were  a  bright  red,  some  sea  weed  was  thrown  over 
them,  and  the  clams  in  the  shell  were  placed  on  the  steaming 
sea  weed,  then  green  corn,  sweet  potatoes,  and  lastly  a  loaf  of 
Boston  brown  bread  were  heaped  together.  All  was  quickly 
covered  with  more  sea  weed  to  retain  the  steam.  After  an  hour 
of  steaming  we  were  given  plates  containing  a  small  cup  filled 
with  melted  butter,  in  which  we  dipped  the  clams  fresh  from  the 
shells.  During  our  visit  to  Wood's  Holl  representatives  of  the 
Fish  Commission  were  extremely  courteous  and  kind.  We 
were  frequently  invited  to  accompany  parties  going  to  gather 
fish  and  interesting  specimens  from  the  salt  water.  By  invita- 
tion General  Sternberg  gave  an  illustrated  lecture  on  immunity, 
the  resisting  power,  natural  or  acquired,  which  living  animals 
possess  against  invasion  by  pathogenic  micro-organisms.  He 
also  lectured  on  biology  at  the  Marine  Biological  Laboratory. 

Our  country  was  at  that  time  in  a  great  state  of  political 
excitement.  It  was  election  year,  filled  with  interest  for  all 
parties.  The  enthusiastic  nomination  of  William  McKinley  as 
candidate  for  President  on  the  Republican  ticket  filled  the 
hearts  of  the  men  of  his  party  with  confidence  and  hope.  His 
previous  years  of  training  and  responsibility  as  a  member  of 
Congress,  and  his  experience  as  the  governor  of  Ohio  had 
signalized  him  as  a  man  of  superior  ability,  with  the  power  to 
act  promptly  and  intelligently  in  deciding  great  problems  of 
state.  He  had  a  charming  personality  and  had  many  warmly 
attached  friends  in  all  sections  of  the  country  and  there  was 
great  rejoicing  when  the  returns  showed  that  he  had  been 
chosen  to  fill  the  highest  office  within  the  gift  of  the  people. 


142  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

The  last  winter  of  any  administration  in  the  White  House  is 
usually  considered  less  brilliant  socially,  but  we  saw  no  evidence 
of  this  during  Mr.  Cleveland's  term.  The  autumn  and  winter 
brought  the  usual  activities,  and  the  formal  receptions  at  the 
"White  House  were  largely  attended.  Some  time  before  the 
reception  on  New  Year's  Day,  I  had  received  a  formal  note 
from  the  President  to  be  present  in  the  Blue  Room  on  that  day. 

PRESIDENT     MC  KINLEY 

Early  in  February,  1897,  President  Cleveland  sent  a  cordial 
and  gracious  letter  to  Mr.  McKinley,  his  successor,  with  an 
invitation  to  dine  at  the  White  House  on  the  eve  of  his  inaugur- 
ation, to  which  the  President-Elect  replied  in  the  most  appreci- 
ative manner,  and  those  who  know  assert  there  was  sincerity  in 
the  exchange  of  greetings  between  the  two  men,  each  of  whom 
entertained  genuine  good  feelings  of  respect  and  admiration 
for  the  other,  notwithstanding  their  diverse  political  opinions. 
When  Mr.  McKinley  was  inaugurated  as  President  of  the 
United  States,  March  4,  1897,  we  were  sent  special  tickets  of 
admission  to  the  Senate  wing  to  witness  the  impressive  cere- 
monies. Our  new  President  was  soon  confronted  with  perplex- 
ing and  delicate  problems.  His  first  act  was  to  issue  a  call  for 
an  extra  session  of  Congress  to  revise  the  Wilson  tariff ;  all  his 
close  friends  knew  that  Mr.  McKinley  regarded  this  as  the 
principal  cause  of  business  depression  in  the  preceding  four 
years. 

Although  there  was  a  medical  officer  on  duty  at  the  White 
House,  the  state  of  Mrs.  McKinley's  health  was  such  that  Gen- 
eral Sternberg  was  asked  to  see  her  frequently  and  advise  in 
regard  to  her  care  and  medical  treatment.  The  call  for  these 
visits  came  almost  daily  as  Mrs.  McKinley  was  constantly  over- 
taxed by  the  strain  of  social  duties.  In  years  of  intimate  asso- 
ciation we  learned  to  love  and  esteem  President  McKinley  and 
his  wife  very  highly.  It  is  the  opinion  of  all  who  knew  the 
President,  that  the  happiness  of  his  invalid  wife  was  at  all 
times  his  first  thought.  We  were  frequently  with  them  for 
informal  family  and  holiday  dinners.  They  received  in  the  red 
parlor,  as  it  was  then  known,  and  we  generally  found  them 
during  the  winter  evenings  before  the  open  hearth  fire,  made 
from  drift  wood  sent  by  a  devoted  friend  from  the  coast  of 


SURGEON-GENERAL  143 

Massachusetts.  There  was  always  a  most  cheerful  greeting 
awaiting  one.  I  shall  not  soon  forget  one  Christmas  dinner: 
The  turkey  was  a  large  one,  and  it  was  sent  to  the  table  on  a 
platter  for  the  President  to  carve.  He  did  this  in  a  very  skilful 
manner,  making  merry  meanwhile,  in  full  enjoyment  of  the 
holiday  spirit.  Later  in  the  evening  other  intimate  friends  came, 
and  we  were  all  invited  to  the  blue  room,  where  we  disported 
with  music,  singing  and  a  cotillion. 

One  of  my  great  treasures  is  a  personal  note  from  President 
McKinley  to  be  present  in  the  blue  parlor  during  the  reception 
on  New  Year's  Day.  With  what  pride  and  interest  I  watched 
him  greet  his  fellowmen  on  that  day !  Courteous  in  manner  at 
all  times,  he  had  the  correct  bearing  and  dignity  which  one  likes 
to  observe  in  the  President  of  our  great  Republic.  The  sun 
shone  brightly  that  day  and  many  people  came  to  pay  their 
respects  during  the  reception.  A  number  greater  than  usual 
having  been  received,  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  ceremony 
informed  the  President  that  the  time  for  closing  had  arrived. 
The  President  asked:  "How  many  are  outside  waiting?"  The 
officer  replied  that  the  line  was  long  and  there  must  yet  be 
hundreds.  "Let  them  come,"  said  Mr.  McKinley,  "I  do  not 
wish  to  feel  that  any  one  has  been  shut  out  and  disappointed." 


CHAPTER    TWELVE 

INTERNATIONAL   MEDICAL   CONGRESS  AT   MOSCOW 

In  the  spring  of  1897,  General  Sternberg  received  unofficial 
information  that,  at  the  request  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  he 
would  most  likely  be  designated  as  one  of  the  official  delegates 
from  the  United  States  to  the  International  Medical  Congress 
to  be  held  in  Moscow,  from  August  19  to  26.  Official  notice  of 
their  selection  as  delegates  came  to  General  Sternberg  and 
Deputy  Surg.-Gen.  David  L.  Huntington,  March  12,  and  a  few 
months  later  the  following  additional  instructions  were  for- 
warded by  the  Adjutant-General : 

Sir:  — 

I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  in  complying  with  so 
much  of  paragraph  3,  Special  Orders  No.  58,  March  12th,  1897, 
from  this  office,  as  requires  you  to  attend  the  Twelfth  Interna- 
tional Medical  Congress,  to  be  held  in  Moscow,  Russia,  in 
August  next,  the  Secretary  of  War  directs  as  necessary  to  the 
public  service,  that  you  proceed  via  Hamburg,  Copenhagen, 
Stockholm  and  St.  Petersburg,  and  that  upon  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  Congress  you  return  via  Warsaw,  Vienna,  Munich, 
Strassburg,  Paris  and  Cherbourg. 

Very  respectfully, 
Geo.  D.  Ruggles,  Adjutant  General. 

General  Sternberg,  always  anxious  that  I  should  enjoy  the 
benefit  of  travel,  invited  me  to  accompany  him.  In  order  to 
comply  with  the  instructions  from  the  War  Department  we  left 
New  York,  July  22,  on  the  S.S.  Faerst  Bismarck  for  Hamburg. 
Although  the  morning  of  our  departure  was  dreary,  we  enjoyed 
fine  weather  all  the  way  over,  and  arrived  in  excellent  spirits 
at  Plymouth  at  4  a.  m.,  July  29,  making  Cherbourg  at  11:30 
the  same  morning.  We  arrived  at  Cuxhaven  at  noon  on  the 
next  day  and  departed  by  train  for  Hamburg,  where  we  arrived 
at  6 :30  p.  m.  In  Hamburg  we  stopped  at  the  Hotel  Kronprinz 
where  we  were  made  most  comfortable,  resuming  our  travels 
August  1.  Our  journey  was  by  rail  to  Kiel,  thence  by  boat  to 
Kossar,  where  we  entrained  for  Copenhagen.  Leaving  Copen- 
hagen at  10  a.  m.,  August  4,  we  proceeded  by  boat  to  Malmo, 
and  from  there  by  train  to  Stockholm.    This  stretch  was  very 


MEDICAL    CONGRESS    AT    MOSCOW  145 

interesting,  for  we  passed  through  a  fertile,  beautiful  country, 
the  fields  of  which  were  full  of  golden  shocks  of  newly  har- 
vested grain.  At  9 :  30  we  stopped  for  supper  at  a  large  restau- 
rant, where  we  were  first  introduced  to  a  system  of  table  service 
now  familiar  to  patrons  of  a  "cafeteria." 

We  arrived  at  Stockholm  the  following  morning,  and  drove 
to  the  Grand  Hotel.  A  large  fair  was  going  on  in  the  city  at 
that  time,  which  gave  us  an  excellent  opportunity  to  observe 
the  customs  of  the  Swedish  people.  The  costumes  of  some  of 
the  peasants  we  found  very  interesting,  many  being  quite  becom- 
ing and  picturesque.  The  thing  I  enjoyed  most  was  taking  our 
after  dinner  coffee  in  the  public  garden,  to  the  strains  of  music 
furnished  by  the  military  band.  I  was  amazed  at  the  long 
twilight,  for  at  10  o'clock  it  was  still  quite  bright.  We  left 
Stockholm  by  the  Russian  S.S.  Nord  Kustou  for  St.  Peters- 
burg. Unfortunately  we  had  failed  to  make  timely  reservations 
of  staterooms  and  the  steamer  was  greatly  crowded.  Thanks 
to  our  special  passes  and  letters  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  the 
captain  very  courteously  assigned  his  room  to  me  and  Mrs. 
W.  K.  Van  Reypen  (wife  of  the  Surgeon-General  of  the  Navy, 
the  delegate  appointed  to  represent  the  Medical  Department  of 
the  Navy).  General  Sternberg  and  Admiral  Van  Reypen  were 
given  resting  places  for  the  night  on  a  divan  in  the  dining  room. 
We  enjoyed  a  fine  run  among  the  beautiful  islands  of  the 
Baltic  to  Abo,  the  former  capital  of  Finland,  dating  its  birth  to 
1157.  At  the  time  of  our  visit  it  had  a  population  of  about 
33,000.  We  drove  in  a  "droshky"  around  the  city,  and  visited 
the  famous  church  of  St.  Mary  on  the  Aura,  north  of  Abo. 
Our  steamer  continued  on  a  fine  passage  among  the  many 
islands  to  Hango,  a  favorite  water  resort  for  English  tourists. 

We  arrived  at  Helsingfors  August  12,  and  to  our  great  satis- 
faction we  were  able  to  get  a  stateroom  on  the  steamer  at  that 
port,  as  many  of  the  passengers  left  at  Helsingfors.  The  city 
was  beautifully  clean  and  mostly  new,  for  after  the  burning  of 
the  city  in  the  subjugation  to  Russia,  the  government  sent  Ger- 
mans to  plan  a  new  capital,  and  the  buildings  that  were  then 
constructed  reflect  credit  on  the  engineers  and  architects. 
The  city  boasted  a  splendid  university  with  an  enrolment  of 
about  2,500  students  in  the  various  departments,  about  one  fifth 
of  whom  are  women. 


146  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Our  steamer  pitched  terribly  in  the  Gulf  of  Finland  and  we 
were  exceedingly  glad  to  arrive  at  Cronstadt  on  the  morning 
of  August  13,  enjoying  a  fine  view  of  the  port  and  the  war 
vessels  lying  there.  We  were  now  growing  anxious  to  reach 
St.  Petersburg,  which  we  did  at  8  o'clock  the  following  morning. 
As  our  baggage  was  to  be  inspected  by  a  Russian  officer  on  board 
the  steamer,  Mrs.  Van  Reypen  and  I  kept  watch  over  the  hand 
luggage,  while  General  Sternberg  and  Admiral  Van  Reypen 
went  below  to  supervise  examination  of  the  trunks.  Very  soon 
a  servant  came  hastily  into  the  cabin,  seized  our  small  bags  and 
rushed  to  the  gang  plank ;  I  followed  him  to  the  wharf.  He 
hastily  dropped  the  bags,  and  ran  back  to  the  steamer.  I  looked 
around,  but  I  saw  only  an  excited  surging  crowd,  not  one 
friendly  face,  and  no  passport  in  my  possession.  I  could  not 
return  to  the  vessel,  and  Mrs.  Van  Reypen  was  prohibited  from 
leaving  the  ship,  and  the  situation  caused  me  some  excitement. 
An  officer  came  up,  apparently  in  a  friendly  spirit  to  aid  me. 
Alas !  We  spoke  no  common  language.  I  spoke  French,  he 
replied  in  German ;  I  spoke  no  German,  and  he  did  not  under- 
stand English.  After  considerable  delay,  as  is  usual  in  cus- 
toms proceedings,  I  was  joined  by  the  other  members  of  our 
party.  With  one  exception  all  laughed  at  my  experience ;  I 
could  see  no  humor  in  the  occurrence.  We  took  a  "droshky" 
and  drove  to  the  Hotel  de  France,  where  we  found  very  com- 
fortable quarters  during  our  entire  stay.  Our  passports  were 
taken  by  the  hotel  clerk,  and  by  this  token  the  hotel  seemed  to 
have  assumed  entire  responsibility  for  our  good  conduct,  for  we 
did  not  again  see  the  passports  until  we  were  leaving  the  city. 

St.  Petersburg  was  built  almost  at  the  command  of  one  man, 
and  strikes  a  stranger  as  a  brilliant  display  of  domes,  pinnacles 
and  churches.  We  walked  and  shopped  on  gay  "Nevsky  Pros- 
pekt,"  where  the  shop  windows  are  ablaze  with  diamonds  and 
precious  stones,  where  the  display  of  beautiful  furs  is  in  keep- 
ing with  other  gorgeous  and  rich  things.  St.  Isaacs,  located  in 
the  Alexander  Garden  near  the  great  Admiralty  Building,  takes 
precedence  among  the  churches ;  its  main  cupola  and  the  sur- 
rounding lantern  and  cross  are  overlaid  by  200  pounds  of  gold 
leaf.  The  pillars  on  the  porticos  are  sixty  feet  high,  each  a 
single  shaft  of  exquisite  Finland  granite,  while  over  all  rises  an 
immense  bronze  dome,  in  keeping  with  the  general  architecture. 


MEDICAL    CONGRESS    AT    MOSCOW  147 

The  interior  is  set  off  with  columns  of  lapis-lazuli  and  mala- 
chite, and  rare  paintings  and  brilliantly  jeweled  ikons  adorn  the 
walls.  The  worshipers  kneel  on  the  cold  marble  floor,  and 
during  the  service  they  touch  the  marble  paving  stones  with 
their  brows  in  reverence.  We  also  visited  the  "Hermitage,"  the 
house  of  Peter  the  Great,  the  Winter  Palace,  and  the  Church  of 
Peter  and  Paul  in  the  fort,  where  are  buried  all  the  czars  of 
Russia  (except  Peter  II,  who  removed  the  court  to  Moscow, 
and  died  there  of  smallpox).  Each  sarcophagus  in  this  church 
bears  the  name  of  a  sleeping  czar  or  his  consort,  and  is  dis- 
tinguished by  the  double  eagle  and  the  "eternal  light." 

We  left  St.  Petersburg  with  regret,  and  turned  our  faces 
toward  Moscow,  reaching  there  August  18.  Officials  of  the 
Congress  arranged  for  our  comfort  at  the  Knagi  Dvor  (Princes 
Hotel),  a  new  club  house  which  had  been  placed  at  their  dis- 
posal. We  found  this  to  be  a  beautiful,  new,  up-to-date  build- 
ing, and  we  were  assigned  to  a  charming  suite,  consisting  of 
two  bed  rooms,  a  large  dining  room,  reception  room,  with  a 
balcony  and  an  inviting  entrance  hall. 

On  the  morning  of  the  19th,  General  Sternberg  and  Admiral 
Van  Reypen  attended  the  opening  session  of  the  Twelfth 
International  Congress  of  Medicine,  which  was  held  in  an 
immense  and  beautiful  theater  with  five  tiers  of  boxes.  They 
were  both  very  much  interested  in  the  program  of  the  congress, 
which  they  attended  at  every  session.  General  Sternberg 
enjoyed  immensely  not  only  the  scientific  program,  but  also 
the  personal  contact  with  men  whom  he  knew  by  correspondence 
and  with  the  military  medical  officers  representing  other  coun- 
tries. One  evening,  soon  after  he  had  registered  as  a  member 
of  the  congress,  when  we  were  alone,  he  told  me  that  all  the 
Surgeon-Generals  representing  other  nations  held  the  rank  of 
Major-General,  that  he  was  the  only  Brigadier-General  as  the 
chief  of  the  medical  corps  of  an  army,  and  the  others  knowing 
of  his  achievements  had  expressed  surprise  that  his  Govern- 
ment had  not  rewarded  him  accordingly.  Before  parting  com- 
pany the  military  surgeons  present  in  the  congress  had  a  group 
photograph  taken,  of  which  General  Sternberg  brought  me  a 
beautiful  copy.  I  was  pleased  with  it  for  it  was  a  fine  group 
of  men,  but  I  said :  "Why,  my  dear,  you  are  in  the  front  seat 
in  the  front  row."     This  seemed  to  me  extraordinary,  for  he 


148  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

was  always  a  very  modest,  unassuming  man.  He  looked  at 
me  with  a  happy  twinkle  in  his  brown  eyes,  and  replied,  "I  am 
in  that  position  because  the  military  surgeons  representing  other 
countries  placed  me  there.  When  I  remonstrated  they  said : 
'that  is  where  you  belong,  in  the  very  front  of  medical  science 
of  the  present  day.'  " 

The  adjournment  of  the  congress  and  the  time  for  our 
departure  soon  arrived,  and  we  packed  our  baggage  to  turn 
our  faces  homeward.  Washington  was  beckoning  us  across  the 
water,  and  General  Sternberg  was  very  anxious  to  resume  his 
duties  and  be  again  at  home.  We  left  Moscow  on  the  evening 
of  August  25,  on  our  way  to  Warsaw,  arriving  there  on  the 
28th,  and  proceeding  to  Vienna.  While  the  trip  to  Vienna 
was  interesting,  General  Sternberg  was  disappointed  on  reach- 
ing there  in  not  finding  his  professional  friends  whom  he  wished 
particularly  to  see  in  or  near  Vienna.  They  were  still  far  away 
at  their  country  places.  But  for  me  the  city  was  charming, 
beautiful  and  gay  and  most  fascinating  even  in  summer. 
Admiral  and  Mrs.  Van  Reypen  had  gone  to  Paris  by  way 
of  Berlin  and  had  arranged  for  us  to  stop  with  them  at  the 
Hotel  Chatham.  Here  we  met  again  September  5,  and  while 
we  ladies  went  shopping,  our  husbands  visited  professional 
friends,  military  hospitals,  the  military  medical  school,  and  the 
museum  of  hygiene  at  Val  de  Grace. 

On  the  morning  of  September  17,  we  left  Paris  at  8 :45  for 
Cherbourg.  There  we  went  at  once  on  board  the  tender  and 
steamed  out  behind  the  breakers  to  wait  for  the  S.S.  Columbia, 
which  was  to  carry  us  back  to  our  home. 


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CHAPTER     THIRTEEN 

PRESIDENT     OF    THE    AMERICAN     MEDICAL 
ASSOCIATION 

Despite  the  fact  that  the  administrative  duties  in  the  Surgeon- 
General's  Office  occupied  him  fully,  General  Sternberg  main- 
tained an  active  interest  in  the  work  of  medical  and  scientific 
societies.     He  frequently  attended  the  meetings  of  the  Medi- 
cal   Society,    the    Biological    Society    and    the    Philosophical 
Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  before  each  of  which  he 
occasionally  read  addresses  on  some  aspect  of  scientific  medi- 
cine.   He  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  work  of  the  American 
Public  Health  Association,  and  he  was  a  familiar  figure  at  the 
meetings  of  the  American  Medical  Association  and  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Military  Surgeons  of  the  United  States.    At  one  time 
or  another  he  had  been  elected  president  of  each  of  these 
societies,  and  he  was,  in  addition,  member  and  ex-president 
of  the  Association  for  the  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  and  of  the  Cosmos  Club,  chairman  of  the 
President's  Homes  Commission,  president  of  the  section  on 
military   medicine   of   the    Pan-American    Medical    Congress, 
honorary  member  of  the  American  Association  of  Physicians, 
the  Association  of  American  Medical  Colleges,  the  American 
Academy  of  Medicine,  the  Epidemiological  Society  of  London, 
the  Academy  of  Medicine  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  the  French 
Society  of  Hygiene,  and  fellow  of  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Medicine  and,  by  courtesy,  of  Johns  Hopkins  University.    The 
honorary  degree  of  LL.D  was  conferred  on  him,  in  1894,  by  the 
University  of  Michigan  and,  in  1897,  by  Brown  University. 
General  Sternberg  was  not  insensible  to  the  honors  which 
his  medical  confreres  and  scientific  co-workers  had  bestowed 
on  him,  but  none  brought  him  more  lasting  satisfaction  than 
his  election  as  president  of  the  American  Medical  Association 
at  its  semi-centennial  meeting  in  Philadelphia,  June  4,  1897. 
His  personal  friends  regarded  the  election  as  a  recognition  of 
his  scientific  attainments  by  the  representative  body  of  Ameri- 
can physicians.     During  his  incumbency,  General  Sternberg 
kept  in  close  touch  with  the  executive  offices  of  the  Association 


150  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

and  found  great  satisfaction  in  the  progressive  spirit  which 
was  manifest  in  its  campaign  for  the  elimination  of  inferior 
schools  and  the  adoption  of  a  higher  standard  of  medical  edu- 
cation, for  the  suppression  of  the  nostrum  evil  and  for  the 
instruction  of  the  public  in  matters  pertaining  to  hygiene. 
Unfortunately,  our  country  was  at  war  with  Spain  in  the  spring 
of  1898,  and  to  his  keen  regret,  General  Sternberg  was  pre- 
vented by  the  duties  of  his  office  from  attending  the  meeting 
of  the  Association  at  Denver.  He  had,  however,  prepared  an 
address  which  was  read  by  his  friend  and  colleague,  Colonel 
Alfred  A.  Woodhull.  In  this  paper,  General  Sternberg  was  at 
his  best ;  in  it  are  attested  his  sincere  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
scientific  medicine  and  advanced  medical  education,  as  will 
appear  from  a  few  extracts. 

EXTRACTS     FROM     THE     PRESIDENTIAL     ADDRESS 

Scientific  medicine,  being  founded  upon  demonstrable  truths, 
must  in  the  end  maintain  itself  and  secure  the  confidence  of 
the  people.  But  when  the  results  of  scientific  research  are 
rejected  through  ignorance  of  the  experimental  data  upon 
which  they  are  founded,  and  the  layman  hears  contradictory 
professional  opinions  about  matters  which  the  well  informed 
knows  to  be  definitely  settled,  he  may  be  excused  for  not  differ- 
entiating so  sharply  as  we  are  disposed  to  do  between  regulars 
and  irregulars.  To  maintain  our  standing  in  the  estimation  of 
the  educated  classes  we  must  not  rely  upon  our  diplomas  or 
upon  our  membership  in  medical  societies,  but  must  show  our- 
selves superior  in  knowledge  and  in  professional  resources  to 
the  ignorant  pretender  or  to  the  graduate  of  a  medical  school 
which  is  bound  in  its  teachings  by  an  untenable  creed,  adopted 
before  the  light  of  science  had  taught  physicians  to  reject 
theories  and  the  dicta  of  authorities  in  favor  of  truths  demon- 
strated by  modern  methods  of  research.  There  are  those  who 
still  speak  of  us  as  "old  school  physicians,"  ignorant  apparently 
of  the  fact  that  scientific  medicine  is  to  a  great  extent  of  very 
recent  origin,  and  that  all  of  the  great  discoveries  in  relation 
to  the  etiology,  prevention  and  specific  treatment  of  infectious 
diseases,  and  nearly  all  the  improved  methods  and  instrumental 
appliances  for  clinical  diagnosis  and  surgical  treatment  have 
had  their  origin  within  the  ranks  of  the  regular  profession. 
While,  therefore,  we  still  have  with  us  some  "old  school  doc- 
tors," who  have  fallen  behind  the  procession,  the  profession 
as  a  whole  has  been  moving  forward  with  incredible  activity 
upon  the  substantial  basis  of  scientific  research,  and  if  we  are 
to  be  characterized  by  any  distinctive  name,  the  only  one  appli- 
cable would  be  "the  new  school  of  scientific  medicine."     Not 


AMERICAN    MEDICAL    ASSOCIATION  151 

that  our  science  is  complete,  for  we  have  still  many  things  to 
learn  and  many  problems  which  have  thus  far  resisted  all 
efforts  at  their  solution;  but  we  have  learned  how  to  attack 
these  problems  and  no  one  any  longer  expects  that  they  can 
be  solved  by  the  exercise  of  the  reasoning  powers  and  the  facile 
use  of  the  pen. 

EDUCATION     OF    THE     PUBLIC 

Through  many  years  General  Sternberg  was  wont  to 
give  public  lectures  on  topics  relating  to  sanitation  and 
hygiene.  He  considered  it  the  function  of  the  physician  to 
popularize  knowledge  regarding  infectious  diseases  and  pre- 
ventive medicine,  and  to  this  end  he  took  infinite  pains  to  make 
his  own  lectures  on  such  subjects  entertaining  and  informative. 

The  old  saying  has  it  that  "the  pen  is  mightier  than  the 
sword."  This  is  no  doubt  true  in  politics,  but  in  science  the 
pen  is  a  feeble  instrument  compared  with  the  test  tube,  the 
microscope,  the  chemical  balance,  etc.  Nevertheless,  I  am 
about  to  advise  well-informed  physicians  to  make  greater  use 
of  the  pen,  not  for  the  elucidation  of  these  problems  which 
remain  to  be  solved,  but  for  the  purpose  of  calling  the  atten- 
tion of  the  nonmedical  portion  of  the  community  to  the  recent 
achievements  of  scientific  medicine.  It  is  a  remarkable  and 
lamentable  fact  that  persons  belonging  to  the  so-called  educated 
classes  are  grossly  ignorant  as  regards  the  present  status  of 
medical  science.  They  not  only  speak  of  us  as  "old  school  doc- 
tors," but  they  entrust  their  lives  and  those  of  their  children 
to  pseudo-scientists  who,  taking  advantage  of  popular  interest 
in  the  great  discoveries  of  the  day,  make  extravagant  claims  as 
to  the  curative  power  of  electricity,  the  X-ray,  oxygen,  ozone 
or  some  wonderful  miracle  destroyer.  Or,  ignoring  the  exact 
knowledge  which  has  been  gained  by  experience  and  painstak- 
ing researches  with  reference  to  the  etiology  of  various  dis- 
eases and  the  curative  action  of  approved  therapeutic  agents, 
they  accept  the  vagaries  of  the  osteopath  and  the  christian 
scientist  as  representing  the  latest  development  of  scientific 
progress  in  medicine.  The  false  assertions  and  claims  of  igno- 
rant enthusiasts  and  conscienceless  vampires,  as  a  rule,  pass 
unchallenged.  Not  only  are  they  able  to  impose  upon  a  gullible 
public  through  their  published  advertisements,  but  articles  writ- 
ten by  them  or  for  them  appear  in  the  columns  of  reputable 
newspapers.  The  ever-present  and  irresponsible  newspaper 
reporter  espouses  their  cause  through  ignorance  or  for  gain  and 
their  wonderful  cures  are  related  and  copied  from  one  paper 
to  another  without  any  competent  critic  raising  his  voice  to 
show  the  fallacy  of  the  claims.    Again,  positive  denials  of  the 


152  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

well-established  achievements  of  scientific  medicine  are  often 
made,  unfortunately  too  often,  by  men  who  are  authorized  to 
attach  the  letters  M.D.  to  their  signatures. 

THE     NOSTRUM     EVIL 

It  was  also  necessary  and  desirable  to  instruct  the  laity  in 
regard  to  the  nostrum  evil  for  there  were  always  unscrupulous 
quacks  preying  on  the  gullible  members  of  the  community. 

For  the  illiterate  and  even  for  many  of  the  so-called  educated 
class  the  whole  of  medicine  consists  in  the  cure  of  disease  by 
medicines,  or  by  some  agency,  natural  or  supernatural,  and  a 
failure  to  cure  is  evidence  that  medicine  is  not  a  science.  We 
readily  admit  that  the  cure  of  disease  is  one  of  the  principal 
objects  which  medical  science  has  in  view,  and  that  from  a 
scientific  standpoint  therapeutics  is  very  much  behind  some  of 
the  other  branches  of  medicine.  This  is  shown  by  the  diversity 
of  remedies  prescribed  for  certain  diseases,  and  the  failure 
of  any  one  of  these  remedies  to  effect  a  cure  in  many  cases. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  therapeutics  has  made  great  advances 
during  recent  years  and  by  the  application  of  scientific  methods 
of  research,  the  exact  value  of  alleged  remedies  and  of  various 
methods  of  treatment  is  now  determined  with  far  greater  pre- 
cision than  formerly. 

The  fact  that  a  considerable  proportion  of  those  who  are  sick 
from  various  acute  or  chronic  ailments  recover  after  a  time, 
independently  of  the  use  of  medicinal  agents  or  methods  of 
treatment  taken  in  connection  with  this  tendency  to  ascribe 
recovery  to  the  treatment  employed,  makes  it  an  easy  matter 
to  obtain  certificates  of  cure  for  any  nostrum  which  an  unprin- 
cipled money-seeker  may  see  fit  to  offer  a  credulous  public. 

ENEMIES     OF     SCIENTIFIC     MEDICINE 

Sincere  but  misguided  enthusiasts  were  banded  together  to 
obstruct  scientific  medicine :  the  campaigns  against  vaccination 
and  animal  experimentation  were  often  unwittingly  aided  by 
haphazard  statements  of  certain  thoughtless  physicians.  Even 
physicians  of  reputation  were  sometimes  wont  to  refute  new 
discoveries  in  advance  of  careful  study  and  thorough  trial,  and 
such  denial  served  only  to  confound  the  general  public  and  to 
fortify  the  position  of  the  enemies  of  medicine. 

As  a  result  the  anti-vaccination  and  anti-vivisection  societies 
are  able  to  fortify  their  position  by  quoting  the  opinions  of 
medical  men  of  more  or  less  repute.  But  opinions  are  of  no 
value  when  opposed  to  evidence,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  those 
familiar  with  the  evidence  would  do  well  to  give  to  the  public 
concise  and  comprehensible  statements,  suitable  for    publica- 


AMERICAN    MEDICAL    ASSOCIATION  153 

tion  in  newspapers  and  popular  magazines,  setting  forth  the 
facts  and  the  evidence  upon  which  these  facts  are  accepted  by 
well-informed  physicians.  But  in  doing  so,  great  care  should 
be  taken  not  to  make  any  assertions  that  are  not  based  upon 
reliable  data. 

Whenever  any  new  discovery  in  medicine  is  announced  some 
conservative  physicians,  and  often  men  of  reputation  in  the 
profession,  are  sure  to  commit  themselves  to  a  positive  denial 
of  the  alleged  fact.  This  occurred  when  the  discovery  of  the 
tubercle  bacillus  was  announced  by  Koch,  it  has  occurred  with 
reference  to  the  treatment  of  diphtheria  by  antitoxin,  and  to 
the  preventive  treatment  of  hydrophobia  by  Pasteur's  method. 
Yet  these  discoveries  are  based  upon  experimental  evidence  of 
the  most  unimpeachable  character.  To  deny  their  reliability 
at  the  present  day  is  simply  to  show  ignorance  of  the  nature 
of  this  evidence  or  a  failure  to  appreciate  its  scientific  value. 
Often  the  positive  and  premature  statements  of  a  physician 
relating  to  new  discoveries  in  medicine  are  corrected,  or  at  least 
regretted,  at  a  later  date;  but  sometimes  the  pride  of  opinion 
prevents  a  retraction  in  the  face  of  the  most  conclusive  evi- 
dence. The  result  is  that  such  opinions,  although  they  may 
have  been  given  years  ago,  are  always  available  to  controvert 
the  statements  of  those  who  maintain  the  value  of  vaccination, 
of  experiments  on  the  lower  animals,  of  the  diphtheria  anti- 
toxin, etc.,  and  the  non-medical  public  very  often  accept  the 
opinions  which  coincide  with  their  preconceived  views,  or 
arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  there  is  nothing  settled  in  our 
so-called  medical  science. 

HIGHER    STANDARDS    OF    MEDICAL     EDUCATION 

This  evil  could  best  be  remedied  by  elevating  the  standard  of 
medical  education,  by  training  the  modern  physician  in  the 
laboratory  sciences  in  order  to  inculcate  respect  for  experi- 
mental evidence  as  opposed  to  the  dictum  of  self-constituted 
authority.     On  this  point  General  Sternberg  said : 

It  should  be  our  aim  to  remedy  this  evil  by  elevating  the 
standard  of  medical  education,  as  we  are  doing  in  many  parts 
of  the  country,  by  impressing  upon  the  rising  generation  of 
physicians  the  importance  of  laboratory  work  not  only  as  a 
means  of  instruction,  but  for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  a 
scientific  spirit  of  inquiry  and  just  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
experimental  evidence;  and,  finally,  by  instructing  the  public 
with  reference  to  the  present  status  of  scientific  medicine,  the 
difference  between  fact  and  fancy,  between  the  vagaries  of  the 
imagination  and  the  demonstrable  results  of  scientific 
investigation. 


154  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

With  the  progress  of  scientific  medicine,  we  have  improved 
methods  of  teaching,  and  it  is  now  generally  recognized  that 
reading  medical  books  and  listening  to  lectures  is  not  a  suffi- 
cient preparation  for  the  practice  of  medicine,  any  more  than 
the  reading  of  books  on  navigation  would  be  for  the  respons- 
ible position  of  captain  of  an  ocean  steamer.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  we  insist  upon  the  study  of  anatomy  in  the  dissect- 
ing room,  the  teaching  of  methods  of  diagnosis  and  treatment 
at  the  bedside,  and  of  chemistry,  physiology  and  pathology  in 
the  laboratory.  It  is  only  within  the  last  few  years  that  our 
leading  medical  colleges  have  provided  suitable  facilities  for 
practical  laboratory  work  and  even  at  the  present  day,  as  I 
understand,  the  laboratory  courses  are  not  compulsory  in  some 
institutions  which  provide  for  a  four  years'  course  of  study 
as  a  requisite  for  receiving  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine. 
From  my  point  of  view  these  laboratory  courses  are  a  most 
essential  part  of  the  medical  curriculum,  not  only  because  the 
student  becomes  familiar  with  the  use  of  instruments  and 
methods  which  will  be  of  inestimable  value  to  him  in  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession,  but  especially  because  of  the  effect  of 
the  kind  of  training  he  there  receives  in  enabling  him  to  judge 
of  the  imperfections  of  our  unaided  senses  and  the  small  value 
of  opinions  in  comparison  with  that  of  facts  capable  of  demon- 
stration; as  also  the  relative  importance  of  many  things  which 
to  the  superficial  observer  might  appear  to  be  insignificant  and 
unworthy  of  attention.  He  learns  not  to  accept  the  assertion 
of  the  professor  if  this  is  in  conflict  with  the  experimental 
evidence  which  he  is  able  to  verify  for  himself.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  learns  not  to  have  an  overweening  confidence  in  his 
own  judgment  and  powers  of  observation.  He  may  fail  to 
demonstrate  the  flagella  on  the  typhoid  bacillus,  or  the  presence 
of  the  plasmodium  in  the  blood  of  a  malarial  fever  case,  or  of  a 
trace  of  arsenic  in  the  tissues  of  one  who  died  with  symptoms 
of  arsenical  poisoning,  but  having  learned  by  repeated  investi- 
gation that  the  failure  was  due  to  his  want  of  expert  skill  in 
the  use  of  the  microscope  or  in  the  application  of  delicate  meth- 
ods of  investigation,  he  learns  that  it  is  unscientific  and 
injudicious  to  give  a  premature  opinion  in  regard  to  any  sub- 
ject under  investigation,  and  especially  so  when  this  opinion  is 
based  upon  negative  evidence.     .     .     . 

I  have  spoken  of  the  danger  of  arriving  at  hasty  conclusions 
upon  negative  evidence,  and  wish  now  to  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  physicians  too  often  fail  to  recognize  the  value  of 
negative  evidence  as  opposed  to  the  deductions  made  from 
facts  coming  under  their  immediate  observation.  Thus,  a  case 
of  paralysis  following  diphtheria  may  be  ascribed  to  the  admin- 
istration of  diphtheria  antitoxin,  but  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
paralysis  often  follows  dipththeria  when  no  antitoxin  has  been 


AMERICAN    MEDICAL    ASSOCIATION  155 

given,  and  of  the  negative  evidence  relating  to  the  administra- 
tion of  the  antitoxin  in  thousands  of  cases  and  in  immunizing 
doses  in  other  thousands  of  individuals,  the  deduction  in  a 
particular  case  that  paralysis  and  the  administration  of  anti- 
toxin stand  in  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  may  well  be 
doubted.  Again,  when  a  case  of  yellow  fever  occurs  in  one 
of  our  seaport  cities,  failure  to  trace  the  channel  of  infection 
has  not  infrequently  led  to  the  inference  that  the  disease  was 
of  local  origin.  The  fallacy  here  depends  upon  the  assumption 
that  the  investigation  has  excluded  all  possible  avenues  for  the 
importation  of  the  infectious  material  from  a  foreign  source, 
and  a  want  of  appreciation  of  the  negative  evidence  which 
shows  that  yellow  fever  epidemics  never  have  their  origin  at 
interior  towns,  and  that  they  do  not  originate  at  towns  on  the 
sea-coast  which  have  no  foreign  commerce.  As  well  might  we 
conclude,  as  perhaps  some  have  done,  that  a  case  of  smallpox 
is  of  de  novo  origin  because  the  physician  who  sought  to  find 
the  source  of  contagion  was  unable  to  do  so.  The  negative 
evidence,  relating  to  the  non-occurrence  of  smallpox  among 
persons  not  exposed  directly  or  indirectly  to  contagion,  is  so 
conclusive  that  the  profession  accepts  it  as  a  fact  that  this  dis- 
ease   does    not   originate    independently    of    a    previous    case. 

FOUNDATIONS     OF     SCIENTIFIC     MEDICINE 

Evidently  scientific  medicine  must  be  founded  upon  an  exact 
knowledge  of  the  structure  (anatomy)  and  functions  (physiol- 
ogy) of  the  human  body  in  a  healthy  condition  and  of  the 
changes  in  structure  and  function  (pathology)  which  result 
from  various  disease  processes;  of  the  causes  (etiology), 
natural  history  (clinical  medicine)  and  regional  distribution 
(medical  geography)  of  the  diseases  which  afflict  mankind  and 
the  lower  animals  (comparative  pathology)  ;  of  the  toxic  action 
of  various  substances  from  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdom 
(toxicology),  and  of  the  use  of  these  and  of  other  non-toxic 
substances,  physical  agents,  etc.,  in  the  treatment  of  disease 
(therapeutics)  and  of  the  prevention  of  disease  by  disinfection, 
quarantine,  protective  inoculations,  etc.  (prophylaxis).     .     .     . 

While  scientific  medicine  could  not  exist  independently  of 
these  fundamental  branches,  they  simply  constitute  the  basis 
upon  which  the  superstructure  has  been  reared,  to  a  large 
extent  during  the  last  half  of  the  present  century.  The  histo- 
logic changes  which  occur  as  a  result  of  various  disease  pro- 
cesses, were  unknown  and  unknowable  in  advance  of  the  inven- 
tion of  the  compound  microscope,  and  the  same  is  true  as 
regards  the  etiology  of  infectious  diseases. 

PREVENTIVE     MEDICINE 

Scientific  medicine  has  as  its  ultimate  goal  the  eradication  of 
all  preventable  disease  by  the  united  efforts  of  trained  labora- 


156  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

tory  workers  and  practical  sanitarians.  In  General  Sternberg's 
opinion,  the  advancement  of  preventive  medicine  is  a  measure 
of  the  progress  of  medical  science. 

Where  thousands  have  been  saved  by  the  timely  adminis- 
tration of  suitable  medicines,  or  by  the  skilfully  performed 
operation  of  the  surgeons,  tens  of  thousands  have  been  saved 
by  preventive  medicine.  And  preventive  medicine  is  today 
established  upon  a  strictly  scientific  foundation.  If  our  prac- 
tice was  pari  passu  with  our  knowledge,  infectious  diseases 
should  be  almost  unknown  in  civilized  countries,  and  those 
degenerative  changes  of  vital  organs  which  result  from  excesses 
of  various  kinds  would  cease  to  play  the  leading  part  in  our 
mortuary  statistics.  But  while  our  knowledge  is  still  incom- 
plete in  some  directions,  and  while  individuals  and  communities 
constantly  fail  to  act  in  accordance  with  the  well-established 
laws  of  health  and  the  scientific  data  which  furnish  the  basis 
of  preventive  medicine,  the  saving  of  life  directly  traceable  to 
this  knowledge  is  enormous. 

Smallpox  no  longer  claims  its  victims  in  any  considerable 
numbers  except  in  communities  where  vaccination  is  neglected ; 
cholera  has  been  excluded  from  our  country  during  the  last 
two  widespread  epidemics  in  Europe  and  its  ravages  have  been 
greatly  restricted  in  all  civilized  countries  into  which  it  has  been 
introduced;  the  deadly  plague  of  the  seventeenth  and  eight- 
eenth centuries  is  no  longer  known  in  Europe,  and  the  preva- 
lence of  typhus  (so-called  "spotted"  or  "ship  fever")  has  been 
greatly  limited.  Typhoid  fever,  tuberculosis  and  diphtheria 
are  still  with  us  and  claim  numerous  victims,  but  we  know  the 
specific  cause  of  each  of  these  diseases ;  we  know  where  to  find 
the  bacteria  which  cause  them  and  the  channels  by  which  they 
gain  access  to  the  human  body,  and  we  know  how  to  destroy 
them  by  the  use  of  disinfecting  agents. 

The  mortality  from  tuberculosis  is  constantly  diminishing  in 
our  large  cities,  and  the  complete  destruction  of  the  infectious 
sputa  of  those  suffering  from  pulmonary  tuberculosis  would  no 
doubt  go  a  long  way  toward  the  extermination  of  this  fatal 
disease. 

For  a  long  time  vaccination  as  a  means  of  preventing  small- 
pox stood  as  a  solitary  example  of  prophylaxis  by  inoculation 
with  an  attenuated  virus.  But  Pasteur  and  others  following 
in  his  footsteps  have  shown  us  that  protective  inoculations 
may  be  successfully  practiced  in  several  of  the  infectious  dis- 
eases of  the  lower  animals.  Haffkine's  cholera  inoculations 
appear  to  have  been  attended  with  considerable  success,  and 
recent  experiments  in  inoculating  susceptible  persons  with  cul- 
tures of  the  typhoid  bacillus  give  some  encouragement  to  the 


AMERICAN    MEDICAL    ASSOCIATION  157 

belief  that  they  may  be  rendered  immune  against  typhoid  fever 
by  this  method.  That  children  may  be  rendered  immune 
against  diphtheria  by  comparatively  small  doses  of  the  anti- 
toxin is  well  established.  The  value  of  Pasteur's  method  of 
inoculation  for  the  prevention  of  hydrophobia  in  persons  bit- 
ten by  rabid  animals  is  now  generally  recognized  by  well- 
informed  physicians. 


CHAPTER     FOURTEEN 

SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR 

During  the  Spanish-American  War,  General  Sternberg  met 
all  the  increased  demands  upon  his  corps  with  efficiency  in  the 
face  of  legislative  embarrassment  and  administrative  obstacles, 
establishing  a  corps  of  female  nurses  for  service  in  permanent 
hospitals,  increasing  the  medical  staff  by  officers  selected  from 
the  Association  of  Military  Surgeons,  and  afterwards  super- 
vising the  organization  of  medical  service  in  our  tropical 
possessions.1 

At  the  International  Medical  Congress  at  Moscow  in  1897, 
discussion  of  the  experiences  of  the  medical  departments  of  the 
foreign  armies  and  navies  had  given  General  Sternberg  renewed 
inspiration  and  incentive.  He  hoped  that  he  might  be  able  to 
induce  the  country  to  adopt  the  best  of  tried  measures.  His 
efforts  were  doomed  to  repeated  disappointment.  Congress 
was  at  the  time  greatly  absorbed  in  the  subject  of  fiscal  economy 
and  instead  of  increasing  the  Medical  Corps,  there  seemed  to 
be  a  determined  effort  to  reduce  its  numbers.  Recommenda- 
tions for  appropriations  were  ignored  and  there  was  little 
interest  in  military  preparedness.  Even  in  1897  it  was  clearly 
seen  by  Army  men  that  war  with  Spain  was  inevitable,  and  it 
was  apparent  that  we  should  prepare  for  the  contingency.  But 
recommendations  to  Congress  were  sterile  of  result  until  war 
was  actually  on  us. 

March  9,  1898,  Congress  appropriated  "for  national  defense" 
the  sum  of  $50,000,000  —  no  part  of  which  sum  was  to  be  avail- 
able for  offensive  purposes,  even  for  offensive  preparations. 
The  fund,  although  placed  at  the  President's  disposal,  was  con- 
fined to  expenditures  for  purposes  literally  within  the  foregoing 
limitation.  Under  this  interpretation  of  the  Act,  it  was  permis- 
sible to  hasten  the  work  on  the  coast  fortifications,  plans  for 
which  had  been  formulated  and  sanctioned  by  Congress,  but  no 
new  projects  could  be  initiated.  In  comparison  with  the  other 
bureaus  of  the  War  Department,  however,  the  Ordnance, 
Engineer  and  Signal  Corps  were  given  favorable  consideration. 


1.  McCulloch,  Col.  C.  C;  Scientific  Monthly  4:414  (May)  1917. 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  159 

General  Sternberg's  official  report  on  the  activities  of  the  Medi- 
cal Department  during  the  war  portrays  the  difficulties  under 
which  he  labored. 

The  Quartermaster,  Commissary  and  Medical  departments 
up  to  April  23,  1898,  had  been  denied  the  privilege  of  endeavor. 
Under  the  President's  interpretation  of  "national  defense," 
these  had  not  been  permitted  to  take  a  step  out  of  the  ordinary 
routine.  They  could  not  procure  or  order  any  equipment, 
clothing,  tentage,  harness,  commissary  stores,  or  medical  and 
hospital  supplies,  camp  furniture  and  other  materials  in  excess 
of  the  ordinary  supply  as  of  March  9,  1898. 

War  was  declared  on  April  21,  1898,  when  Minister  Wood- 
ford was  handed  his  passport  at  Madrid.  The  formal  declara- 
tion of  war  by  Congress  April  25,  contains  the  statement  "that 
war  has  existed  since  the  21st  day  of  April." 

April  23,  the  President  issued  a  call  for  125,000  volunteers 
and  within  twenty-four  hours  the  nation  was  aflame.  Tenders 
for  service  came  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  a  million  men  offered  themselves,  where  125,000  had 
been  called. 

On  the  first  of  April,  1898,  our  standing  Army  consisted  of 
2,143  officers  and  26,040  men,  a  small  nucleus  about  which  had 
to  be  organized  the  great  army  for  1898.  With  this  small 
organization  we  were  to  muster  and  equip,  organize  and  mobi- 
lize, not  only  the  first  increment  of  volunteers  but  all  subsequent 
levies  aggregating  with  the  regular  army  approximately  275,000 
men.  The  number  of  medical  officers  of  the  regular  Army 
(192)  was  totally  inadequate  even  in  time  of  peace,  while  this 
number  included  the  fifteen  additional  Assistant  Surgeons 
authorized  by  the  Act  approved  May  12,  1898.  Later  in  May 
there  were  thirteen  vacancies.  Of  the  remaining  officers,  six 
were  engaged  in  administrative  duties  in  the  office  of  the  Sur- 
geon General,  and  in  superintendence  of  the  Army  Medical 
Museum  and  Library  and  Army  Medical  School ;  eleven  were 
on  duty  at  medical  supply  depots,  and  as  chief  surgeons  of  mili- 
tary departments ;  one  at  the  United  States  Soldiers'  Home ; 
fifty-six  at  general  hospitals  and  at  garrisoned  posts ;  one  as 
colonel  of  a  volunteer  regiment  [Dr.  (now  General)  Leonard 
Wood]  ;  while  four  were  disabled.  One  hundred  officers  were 
thus  left  for  field  service,  five  of  whom  were  placed  on  duty  as 
chief  surgeons  of  Army  Corps ;  thirty-six  as  brigade  surgeons 
of  volunteers  and  fifty-nine  as  regimental  surgeons  and  assist- 
ants with  the  regular  troops.  The  insufficiency  of  the  last  men- 
tioned number  was  made  up  by  assignment  of  medical  men 
under  contract.  It  should  be  added  that  the  Hospital  Corps 
consisted  of  723  enlisted  men.     All  volunteer  regiments  had 


160  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

three  medical  officers  appointed  by  the  governors  of  states ; 
volunteer  surgeons  to  fill  the  staff  positions  authorized  by  the 
Act  of  approval  April  22,  1898,  were  appointed  by  the  Presi- 
dent. There  were  in  all  eight  corps  surgeons  with  the  rank 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  one  hundred  and  ten  division  and 
brigade  surgeons  with  the  rank  of  Major,  five  of  the  former 
and  thirty-six  of  the  latter  positions  were  filled  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  officers  of  the  Army  Medical  Department.  The  Presi- 
dent also  appointed  three  medical  officers  for  each  of  the  regi- 
ments of  the  United  States  Volunteers,  infantry,  cavalry  and 
engineers.  As  a  very  small  proportion  of  these  medical  officers 
had  military  experience,  the  efficiency  of  the  department  was 
impaired  at  the  outset,  but  very  many  of  the  staff  surgeons  from 
civil  life  showed  great  aptitude  for  the  service  and  speedily 
became  of  value  as  administrative  officers. 

In  less  than  thirty  days  practically  all  of  125,000  volunteers 
of  the  first  call  had  been  mustered  in,  and  together  with  the 
available  regular  troops  were  mobilized  at  Tampa,  Mobile, 
Washington  and  Chickamauga  Park.  May  25,  less  than  five 
weeks  after  the  first  call,  an  expedition  sailed  from  San  Fran- 
cisco for  the  Philippines.  In  less  than  seven  weeks  an  army 
of  17,000  set  out  for  Santiago.  Owing  to  the  limited  number 
of  officers  and  the  great  amount  of  work  to  be  accomplished 
"the  War  Department  requested  authority  from  Congress  to 
issue  commissions  for  active  service  to  retired  officers.  This 
authority  Congress  denied.  From  the  regular  army,  there- 
fore, was  taken  the  minimum  of  officers  consistent  with  the 
efficiency  of  every  branch,  an  efficiency  that  is  the  rock  upon 
which  this  country  must  always  build  its  hopes  for  effective 
operations  during  the  first  few  months  of  any  war  in  which  it 
may  be  engaged  so  long  as  the  militia  is  organized  as  it  now  is. 

General  Sternberg  realized  very  fully  the  difficulties,  dan- 
gers and  far-reaching  consequences  incident  to  the  enrolment 
of  medical  officers,  who  had  neither  training  in  military  hygiene, 
camp  sanitation,  or  in  medicomilitary  administration  in  gen- 
eral. With  less  than  200  regular  medical  officers  and  no  time 
to  place  newly  appointed  medical  officers  in  schools  of  instruc- 
tion, General  Sternberg  could  only  place  the  best  men  of  his 
corps  in  positions  of  responsibility,  where  they  would  be  able 
to  instruct  and  direct  the  new  appointees.  Two  important  cir- 
culars for  the  information  and  guidance  of  the  Medical  Corps 
were  issued ;  one  almost  immediately  after  the  declaration  of 
the  state  of  war. 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  161 

CIRCULAR     NO.     1 

Surgeon  General's  Office, 
Washington,  April  25,  1898. 

In  time  of  war  a  great  responsibility  rests  upon  medical  offi- 
cers of  the  Army,  for  the  result  of  a  campaign  may  depend  upon 
the  sanitary  measures  adopted  or  neglected  by  commanding 
generals  of  armies  in  the  field.  The  medical  officer  is  respon- 
sible for  proper  recommendations  relating  to  the  protection  of 
the  health  of  troops  in  camp  or  in  garrison,  and  it  is  believed 
that  as  a  rule,  medical  officers  of  the  United  States  Army  are 
well  informed  as  to  the  necessary  measures  of  prophylaxis  and 
the  serious  results  which  infallibly  follow  a  neglect  of  these 
measures  especially  when  unacclimated  troops  are  called  upon 
for  service  in  a  tropical  or  semitropical  country  during  the 
sickly  season.  In  Cuba  our  armies  will  have  to  contend  not 
only  with  malarial  fevers  and  the  usual  camp  diseases — typhoid 
fever,  diarrhea  and  dysentery — but  they  will  be  more  or  less 
exposed  in  localities  where  yellow  fever  is  endemic  and  under 
conditions  extremely  favorable  for  the  development  of  an 
epidemic  among  unacclimated  troops.  In  view  of  this  danger, 
the  attention  of  medical  officers  and  of  all  others  responsible 
for  the  health  of  our  troops  in  the  field,  is  invited  to  the  fol- 
lowing recommendations : 

When  practicable  camps  should  be  established  on  high  and 
well-drained  ground  not  having  been  previously  occupied. 

Sinks  should  be  dug  before  a  camp  is  occupied,  or  as  soon 
after  as  practicable. 

The  surface  of  fecal  matter  should  be  covered  with  fresh 
earth  or  quicklime  or  ashes  three  times  a  day. 

New  sinks  should  be  dug  and  old  ones  filled  when  the  con- 
tents of  the  old  ones  are  two  feet  from  the  surface  of  the 
ground. 

Every  man  should  be  punished  who  fails  to  make  use  of  the 
sinks. 

All  kitchen  refuse  should  be  promptly  buried  and  perfect 
sanitary  police  maintained. 

Troops  should  drink  only  boiled  or  filtered  water,  cofTee  or 
tea  (hot,  not  cold)  except  when  spring  water  can  be  obtained 
which  is  pronounced  to  be  wholesome  by  a  medical  officer. 

Every  case  of  fever  should  receive  prompt  attention.  If 
albumen  is  found  in  the  urine  of  a  patient  with  fever  it  should 
be  considered  suspicious  (of  yellow  fever)  and  he  should  be 
placed  in  an  isolated  tent.  The  discharge  of  patients  with  fever 
should  always  be  disinfected  at  once  with  a  solution  of  car- 
bolic acid  (5  per  cent.)  or  of  chlorid  of  lime  (6  ounces  to  the 
gallon  of  water)  or  with  milk  of  lime,  made  from  fresh 
quicklime. 


162  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Whenever  a  case  of  yellow  fever  occurs  in  camp,  the  troops 
should  be  promptly  moved  to  a  fresh  camping  ground  located 
a  mile  or  more  from  the  infected  camp. 

No  doubt  typhoid  fever,  camp  diarrhea,  and  probably  yellow 
fever  are  frequently  communicated  to  soldiers  in  camp  through 
the  agency  of  flies,  which  swarm  about  fecal  matter  and  filth 
of  all  kinds  deposited  upon  the  ground  or  in  shallow  pits,  and 
directly  convey  infectious  material,  attached  to  their  feet  or 
contained  in  their  excreta,  to  the  food  which  is  exposed  while 
being  prepared  at  the  company  kitchens  or  while  being  served 
in  the  mess  tent.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  a  strict  sanitary 
police  is  so  important.  Also  because  the  water  supply  may  be 
contaminated  in  the  same  way,  or  by  the  surface  drainage. 

If  it  can  be  avoided,  marches  should  not  be  made  in  the  hot- 
test part  of  the  day — from  10  a.  m.  to  5  p.  m. 

When  called  upon  for  duty  at  night  or  early  in  the  morning 
a  cup  of  hot  coffee  should  be  taken.  It  is  unsafe  to  eat  heartily 
or  drink  freely  when  greatly  fatigued  or  overheated. 

Ripe  fruit  may  be  eaten  in  moderation,  but  green  or  overripe 
fruit  will  give  rise  to  bowel  complaints.  Food  should  be  thor- 
oughly cooked  and  free  from  fermentation  or  putrefactive 
changes. 

In  decidedly  malarious  localities  from  3  to  5  grains  of  quinine 
may  be  taken  in  the  early  morning  as  a  prophylactic,  but  the 
taking  of  quinine  as  a  routine  practice  should  only  be  recom- 
mended under  exceptional  circumstances. 

Light  woolen  underclothing  should  be  worn  and  when  a 
soldier's  clothing  or  bedding  becomes  damp  from  exposure  to 
rain  or  heavy  dews  the  first  opportunity  should  be  taken  to  dry 
it  in  the  sun  or  by  fires. 

A  noted  sanitarian  in  addressing  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  in  October,  1898,  said :  "Had  the  lessons 
of  the  Civil  War  and  the  note  of  warning  sounded  by  Surgeon- 
General  Sternberg  in  his  famous  circular  of  April  25,  1898,  four 
days  after  the  declaration  of  the  Spanish-American  War,  made 
a  deeper  impression  upon  our  Volunteer  officers,  the  disgrace- 
ful unsanitary  conditions  and  dire  consequences  would  not 
have  been  observed."  x 


1.  At  the  date  of  writing  this  review  of  General  Sternberg's  work 
(May,  1918)  I  was  glad  to  learn  from  a  surgeon,  passing  through 
Washington  on  his  way  to  the  battlefield  of  Europe,  that  only  a  short 
time  before  he  had  heard  a  surgeon  in  giving  a  lecture  to  the  new 
officers  in  camp  refer  to  General  Sternberg  as  authority  for  the  state- 
ment that  the  common  house  fly  was  without  doubt  responsible  for 
carrying  the  germ  of  typhoid  fever,  and  giving  the  same  instructions 
contained  in  General  Sternberg's  circular. 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  163 

CIRCULAR     NO.     3 

Surgeon-General's  Office, 
Washington,  May  18,  1898. 

For  the  information  of  chief  surgeons  in  organizing  the 
Medical  Department  and  Hospital  Corps  of  their  commands, 
the  following  relating  to  the  duties  of  medical  officers  in  the 
field  is  published. 

Duties  of  Chief  Surgeons  of  Corps  —  The  chief  surgeon  of  a 
corps  is  held  responsile  for  the  proper  and  effective  manage- 
ment of  the  medical  service  of  the  command. 

He  should  keep  a  register  of  the  medical  officers  and  hospital 
corps,  making  assignments  and  issuing  orders  and  instructions 
with  the  approval  of  and  "by  order"  of  the  Major-General  com- 
manding, if  authorized  to  do  so.  He  should  make  himself 
acquainted  with  the  sanitary  conditions  affecting  the  troops,  the 
efficiency  of  the  field  hospitals  and  of  the  ambulance  companies, 
and  should  call  for  weekly  reports  of  sick  and  wounded  and  of 
the  personnel  and  means  of  transportation  of  the  hospital  corps. 
All  reports  and  papers  not  requiring  special  action  should  be 
checked  off  and  receive  the  stamp  of  his  office  before  trans- 
mittal. Such  papers  include  personal  reports  of  medical  officers, 
monthly  reports  of  sick  and  wounded,  of  the  hospital  corps  and 
of  the  hospital  fund,  and  sanitary  reports  from  chief  surgeons 
of  brigades  and  divisions ;  also  the  lists  of  wounded  called  for 
after  an  engagement. 

A  copy  of  the  action  taken  on  all  papers  referred  to  him,  or 
forwarded  by  him  should  be  made  in  an  endorsement  book. 
Such  discharge  on  account  of  disability,  requisitions  for  medi- 
cal and  hospital,  and  hospital  corps  supplies,  and  all  recom- 
mendations or  complaints  referring  to  the  medical  service  or 
affecting  the  health  and  well  being  of  the  troops. 

Copies  of  orders  and  letters  should  be  made  and  placed  on 
file,  and  all  circulars  and  orders  from  the  Surgeon-General  or 
the  chief  surgeon  of  the  army  should  be  published  without 
delay  to  the  chief  surgeons  of  divisions. 

Prior  to  a  movement,  the  chief  surgeon  should  verify,  by 
personal  inspection,  the  condition  of  the  hospital  and  of  the 
hospital  corps  companies  and  their  trains,  and  should  make  all 
the  arrangements  needful  for  the  probable  exigencies  of  the 
campaign.  He  should  see  that  the  assignments  by  chief  sur- 
geons of  divisions  to  positions  on  the  operating  staff  of  the  field 
hospitals  include  the  best  surgical  skill  of  each  division.  On  the 
march,  he  should  accompany  the  staff  and  acquaint  himself 
with  the  topography  of  the  country ;  and  when  an  engagement 
is  imminent  he  should  indicate  to  chief  surgeons  of  divisions  the 
localities  best  suited  for  the  establishment  of  field  hospitals. 
He  should  inspect  these  from  time  to  time  and  exercise  general 


164  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

supervision  over  the  first  aid  and  ambulance  stations  and  the 
movement  of  the  wounded  to  the  hospitals.  He  should  also 
supervise  the  movement  of  the  sick  and  wounded  to  the  base 
or  general  hospitals,  providing  transportation  and  detailing 
medical  officers  and  attendants  for  their  care.  When  absent  on 
such  duties  he  should  leave  a  competent  medical  officer  with 
the  staff  to  represent  him  and  to  inform  him  of  important 
changes  in  the  military  conditions. 

The  commanding  general  should  be  kept  informed  of  the 
work  of  the  Medical  Department  and  should  always  be  con- 
sulted in  matters  of  importance. 

Duties  of  Chief  Surgeons  of  Divisions:  The  chief  surgeon 
of  a  division  supervises  the  medical  and  hospital  corps  service 
of  the  division.  He  should  transmit  official  reports  and  papers 
with  the  stamp  of  his  office  if  routine  in  character,  or  with  his 
views  endorsed  thereon  if  the  subject  appears  to  call  for  this 
action.  He  should  have  frequent  personal  communication  with 
the  chief  surgeon  of  the  corps,  and  should  endeavor  to  carry 
out  the  views  of  the  latter  on  behalf  of  the  troops.  His  usual 
position  is  with  the  staff,  but  he  should  make  frequent  visits 
to  the  division  hospital  and  the  ambulance  company,  to  oversee 
their  work.  He  should  detail  one  medical  officer  in  rotation  as 
officer  of  the  day,  who,  on  the  march,  should  keep  him 
informed  of  any  noteworthy  occurrence,  and  who  in  camp 
should  visit  each  regiment  of  the  division  to  report  on  its 
hygienic  and  sanitary  conditions.  Before  an  engagement  he 
should  see  that  the  field  hospital  is  properly  established  and 
that  the  operating  surgeon  and  their  assistants  are  at  their 
proper  stations.  During  and  after  the  engagement  he  should 
supervise  the  movement  of  the  wounded  from  the  ambulance 
stations  to  the  hospitals. 

Duties  of  Chief  Surgeons  of  Brigades : — The  chief  surgeon 
of  a  brigade  is  the  adviser  of  the  commander  in  all  medical  and 
sanitary  questions  concerning  the  command.  He  should  call  for 
a  weekly  (or  daily  as  may  be  required)  report  of  sick  and 
wounded  from  regimental  surgeons,  and  of  the  detailed  mem- 
bers of  the  hospital  corps  on  duty  with  them.  He  should  for- 
ward the  formal  reports  of  these  surgeons,  and  promulgate 
orders  from  brigade  and  higher  authorities.  He  should  keep 
careful  watch  over  the  health  of  the  brigade,  reporting  in  writ- 
ing from  time  to  time,  as  may  be  required,  and  consulting  in 
emergencies  with  the  chief  surgeon  of  the  division. 

During  and  after  an  engagement  he  should  supervise  the 
work  at  the  first-aid  stations  and  the  removal  of  the  wounded 
to  the  ambulance  stations,  unless  on  account  of  his  superior 
ability  he  has  been  assigned  to  duty  at  the  operating  tables,  in 
which  case  a  competent  officer  should  be  detailed  to  represent 
him  temporarily  on  the  staff  of  the  brigade. 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  165 

Duties  of  Regimental  Surgeons: — The  regimental  surgeon  is 
in  sanitary  matters  the  adviser  of  the  regimental  commander. 
On  the  march  and  in  camp  he  should  examine  the  sick  with  a 
view  to  their  proper  treatment  and  disposition.  He  is  respons- 
ible for  any  unexpendable  medical  and  hospital  property  issued 
for  the  use  of  the  regiment.  His  supplies  of  medicines,  etc., 
should  be  renewed  by  requisition  on  the  surgeon  in  charge  of 
the  hospital.  Members  of  the  hospital  corps  on  duty  with  the 
division  are  detailed  on  duty  with  him.  Daily,  after  sick  call, 
he  should  send  a  morning  report  of  sick  and  wounded  and  of 
the  hospital  corps  to  the  regimental  commander,  with  a  dupli- 
cate to  the  chief  surgeon  of  the  brigade.  He  should  keep  a 
register  of  sick  and  wounded  and  a  retained  copy  of  the 
monthly  report  forwarded  through  the  offices  of  chief  surgeons 
to  the  Surgeon-General,  cases  treated  in  the  division  field 
hospital  should  be  borne  on  this  report  as  so  treated.  He 
should  forward  monthly  or  when  his  official  station  has  been 
changed  a  personal  report  on  a  memorandum  slip.  After  every 
engagement  a  list  of  wounded  of  the  command  should  be  for- 
warded. If  the  regimental  surgeon  is,  by  order  of  the  chief 
surgeon,  placed  on  temporary  special  duty,  the  senior  medical 
officer  with  the  command  will  perform  the  duties  of  the  regi- 
mental surgeon.  During  an  engagement  he  should  serve  at  the 
first-aid  stations. 

Duties  of  Surgeons  in  Charge  of  Division  Hospitals: — The 
surgeon  in  charge  of  a  division  hospital  is  responsible  for  the 
care  of  the  sick  and  wounded  on  the  march  and  in  camp,  and 
for  the  comfort  and  general  welfare  of  the  wounded  when 
brought  to  the  hospital  by  the  ambulance  service.  He  should 
direct  the  unpacking  of  the  wagons  for  the  establishment  of  so 
much  of  the  hospital  as  may  be  necessary,  and  the  subsequent 
repacking  when  the  march  is  to  be  resumed.  He  should  super- 
intend the  admission,  return  to  duty,  or  transfer  to  base  hospi- 
tals of  his  patients.  As  commanding  officer  of  the  hospital 
corps  detachment  he  should  keep  the  accounts  of  the  enlisted 
men  on  duty  at  the  hospital.  He  should  make  timely  requisi- 
tions for  medicines,  medical  and  hospital  stores,  supplies  and 
property,  for  the  care,  expenditure,  and  use  of  which  he  is  held 
responsible.  He  should  supply  regimental  and  other  medical 
officers  of  the  division  with  such  articles  as  may  be  required 
and  are  available  for  the  treatment  of  the  sick.  He  should 
send  a  daily  report  of  sick  and  wounded  and  of  the  hospital 
corps  to  the  chief  surgeon,  and  transmit  to  the  Surgeon-General 
similar  reports  for  the  month  with  a  statement  of  the  hospital 
fund.  After  an  engagement  he  should  forward  lists  of 
wounded,  and  on  sending  patients  to  base  hospitals  he  should 
furnish  transfer  lists  to  the  senior  surgeon  accompanying  them. 
Medical  officers  may  be  assigned  to  assist  him  in  the  manage- 


166  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

ment  of  the  hospital.  One  of  these  should  act  as  executive 
officer,  aiding  the  surgeon  in  charge  in  the  work  of  supervision, 
and  having  special  charge  of  records.  Another  should  superin- 
tend the  cooking  and  diet  of  the  hospital,  drawing  rations  from 
the  subsistance  department,  and  issuing  them  for  use  and  keep- 
ing the  accounts  of  the  hospital  fund.  He  should  also  have 
special  charge  of  the  hospital  stores,  and  of  such  articles  of 
property  as  are  connected  with  the  cooking  and  serving  of  food. 
Others  should  be  assigned  as  attending  surgeons  to  care  for  the 
sick  on  the  march  and  in  camp,  and  during  an  engagement  to 
look  after  the  management  of  the  wards,  and  to  make  notes  of 
operative  procedures,  deaths,  and  of  the  progress  of  cases  for 
subsequent  report  to  the  surgeon  in  charge  and  entry  on  the 
records  of  the  hospital. 

Duties  of  Medical  Officers  in  Command  of  Ambulance  Com- 
panies:— The  medical  officer,  in  command  of  the  ambulance 
company,  is  charged  with  the  care  of  the  pay,  clothing,  and 
subsistence  of  his  men,  and  is  held  responsible  for  the  care  of 
ambulances  and  other  wagons,  tents,  horses,  mules,  forage,  etc. 
His  subaltern  officers  assist  him  in  the  discharge  of  these  duties. 
During  and  after  an  engagement  he  is  responsible  for  the  safe 
and  speedy  transportation  of  the  wounded  on  litters  and  in 
ambulance  wagons  from  the  field  to  the  hospital  by  way  of  the 
first  aid  and  ambulance  stations,  which  latter  he  should  organ- 
ize. Medical  officers  of  the  Volunteer  Army  should  make  them- 
selves familiar  with  the  provisions  and  requirements  of  the 
manual  for  the  Medical  Department,  the  paragraphs  of  Army 
Regulations  relating  to  the  Medical  Department,  the  Drill 
Regulations  for  the  Hospital  Corps,  and  the  chapters  in  Part 
1  of  the  Handbook  for  the  Hospital  Corps,  by  Deputy  Surgeon 
General  Charles  Smart,  U.  S.  Army. 

CONTRACT     SURGEONS 

But  to  resume  from  General  Sternberg's  report  on  medico- 
military  affairs : 

The  large  number  of  sick  that  had  to  be  cared  for  during  the 
progress  of  the  war  in  regimental,  division  and  general  hospi- 
tals, rendered  imperative  the  employment  of  additional  medical 
assistance  and  under  the  provision  of  the  Act  approved  May 
12,  1898  the  services  of  over  650  contract  surgeons  were 
engaged. 

Most  of  the  doctors  from  civil  life  did  good  service,  many  of 
them  were  thoroughly  equipped  physicians  and  surgeons,  with 
ample  hospital  experience,  but  it  was  impossible  to  make  care- 
ful personal  selection,  owing  to  the  great  pressure  of  business 
of  the  office.    Since  it  was  impracticable  to  have  the  qualifica- 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  167 

tions  of  each  passed  upon  by  an  examining  board,  I 
endeavored  as  far  as  possible  to  obtain  satisfactory  professional 
endorsements  before  authorizing  contracts. 

THE     HOSPITAL     CORPS 

April  25,  1898,  in  connection  with  the  call  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States  for  125,000  volunteers,  I  recommended 
that  the  law  restricting  the  number  of  hospital  stewards  to  100 
be  changed,  and  that  for  each  regiment  of  volunteers,  infantry 
or  cavalry,  there  should  be  enlisted  one  hospital  steward,  one 
acting  steward,  and  five  privates ;  and  for  each  division  of  the 
Army  one  hospital  steward,  one  acting  hospital  steward,  and 
fifty  privates  to  serve  under  the  direction  of  the  Chief  Surgeon 
of  the  division.  These  recommendations  were  acted  upon 
favorably  in  so  far  that  by  the  Act  approved  from  June  2,  1898, 
Congress  suspended  during  the  existing  war  all  provisions  of 
law  limiting  the  number  of  hospital  stewards  at  any  time  to 
100,  and  requiring  that  a  person  to  be  appointed  a  hospital 
steward,  shall  first  demonstrate  his  fitness  therefor,  by  actual 
service  of  not  less  than  twelve  months  as  acting  hospital 
steward,  provided  that  the  increase  of  hospital  stewards  under 
this  Act  shall  not  exceed  100.  In  addition  to  the  200  stewards 
thus  authorized,  each  volunteer  organization  received  into  the 
service,  was  allowed  one  hospital  steward  for  each  battalion 
(Act  approved  April  26,  1898).  There  was,  however,  no  pro- 
vision made  for  Hospital  Corps  men  for  volunteer  troops, 
except  that  which  empowered  the  Secretary  of  War  (Act  of 
March  1,  1897)  to  enlist  as  many  privates  of  the  hospital  corps 
as  the  service  may  require.  In  order  to  provide  this  Corps  with 
the  necessary  number  of  men,  letters  were  sent  to  the  super- 
intendents of  training  schools  for  male  nurses  in  the  prominent 
cities,  advising  them  of  the  need  of  desirable  men  and  asking 
their  assistance  in  securing  unemployed  nurses.  A  number  of 
medical  students,  pharmacists,  and  young  graduates  in  medi- 
cine enlisted  in  the  Hospital  Corps  for  service  during  the  War, 
and  it  is  believed  that  the  efficiency  of  the  Corps  was  thereby 
raised  considerably. 

Recommendation  was  made  May  14,  1898  that  mustering 
officers  be  instructed  to  enlist  desirable  men  approved  by  medi- 
cal officers  at  the  rate  of  five  for  each  battalion,  and  subse- 
quently that  these  be  permitted  to  accompany  the  regiments  on 
their  future  service.  This  recommendation  was  reiterated  June 
18,  in  a  communication  to  the  Adjutant-General.  Meanwhile, 
General  Order  No.  58,  Headquarters  of  the  Army,  Adjutant- 
General's  Office,  May  31,  1898,  authorized  the  transfer  of  men 
from  the  line  of  volunteers  to  the  Hospital  Corps  of  the  Regu- 
lar Army,  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Chief  Surgeon,  and 
suspended  the  provisions  of  Army  Regulations  governing  the 


168  GEORGE    M.    STERXBERG 

Hospital  Corps,  so  far  as  they  were  inapplicable  in  time  of 
war  and  with  troops  in  the  field.  Commanders  of  corps  and 
of  independent  divisions  and  brigades  were  charged  with  the 
full  control  of  the  transfer  from  the  line,  and  enlistment  and 
discharge  of  members  of  the  Hospital  Corps,  the  detail  of  act- 
ing hospital  stewards  and  appointing  of  stewards;  the  latter 
were  limited  by  subsequent  orders  to  ten  stewards  for  an  army 
corps  in  addition  to  those  authorized  for  the  volunteer  regi- 
ments. Authority  for  immediate  enlistments  without  reference 
to  this  office,  except  in  cases  where  slight  defects  existed,  was 
also  given  to  a  number  of  chief  surgeons. 

FEMALE     ARMY     NURSES 

The  number  of  men  enlisted  and  transferred  to  the  Hospi- 
tal Corps  was  approximately  6,000,  but  owing  to  the  limited 
appropriation,  the  body  of  trained  hospital  corps  men  was  not 
sufficiently  large,  and  this  necessitated  the  detail  of  enlisted 
men  from  the  regiments  for  hospital  duty  in  several  of  the 
camps,  and  the  employment  of  trained  female  nurses  in  general 
hospitals.  Foreseeing  the  necessity  for  a  large  force  of  the 
latter  class,  I  applied  to  Congress,  April  28,  1898,  for  authority 
to  employ  by  contract  as  many  female  nurses  as  might  be 
required  during  the  war  at  the  rate  of  $30  a  month  and  a 
ration,  the  pay  proper  to  be  paid  from  the  appropriation  for  the 
Medical  and  Hospital  Departments.  This  was  promptly  granted. 

About  the  same  time  the  National  Society  of  the  Daughters 
of  the  American  Revolution  offered  its  services  as  an  examining 
board  for  female  nurses,  and  a  committee  of  which  Dr.  Anita 
Newcomb  McGee  was  chairman  was  designated  to  take  charge 
of  this  work.  Thereafter  most  of  the  female  nurses  employed 
were  selected  by  this  committee,  with  the  exception  of  those 
immune  to  yellow  fever,  who  were  recruited  in  New  Orleans, 
and  other  Southern  cities.  A  few  were  enrolled  at  Mon- 
tauk  Point,  Long  Island,  and  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  by  the  chief 
surgeons  of  those  places.  A  number  of  patriotic  societies 
offered  to  provide  the  hospitals  with  nurses,  but  the  committee 
referred  to  answered  its  purpose  so  well,  that  I  did  not  feel  the 
need  of  additional  assistance  and  was  relieved  from  what  would 
otherwise  have  been  a  serious  responsibility.  Over  17,000 
female  nurses  have  been  employed,  at  first  in  the  general  hos- 
pitals, and  later  at  field  division  hospitals,  when  it  became  evi- 
dent that  the  field  service  purposes,  for  which  the  latter  had 
been  organized  would  have  to  give  place  to  the  imperative  need 
of  caring  for  the  many  sick  men  coming  from  the  regimental 
camps.  These  hospitals  ceased  to  be  ambulance  hospitals  and 
their  character  of  fixed  hospitals  was  promptly  recognized  by 
assigning  contract  surgeons  and  nurses  to  duty  with  them,  and 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  169 

providing  them  with  articles  of  equipment  which  cannot  be 
carried  in  the  hospital  wagons  of  a  marching  command. 

Female  nurses  were  not  sent  to  these  field  hospitals,  until 
their  original  function  as  an  essential  adjunct  to  the  command 
mobilized  for  active  service  became  lost  in  the  current  of 
immediate  necessities.  Many  of  the  trained  nurses  were  Sis- 
ters of  Charity,  whose  services  were  highly  appreciated  by 
medical  officers  in  charge,  as  well  as  by  the  individual  sick  men, 
who  benefited  by  their  ministrations.  Others  were  obtained 
through  the  kind  assistance  of  the  Red  Cross  Auxiliary  No. 
3,  specially  organized  for  the  maintenance  of  trained  nurses, 
and  I  desire  to  express  my  high  appreciation  of  the  valu- 
able services  rendered  to  the  Medical  Department  by  this 
organization. 

MEDICAL     AND     HOSPITAL     SUPPLIES 

The  authorized  strength  of  the  Army  April  1,  1898  was  a 
little  over  28,000  officers  and  men.  This  force  was  stationed 
as  garrisons  at  military  posts  and  while  the  supplies  furnished 
were  more  especially  adapted  to  the  medical  wants  of  troops 
in  service  under  such  conditions,  there  was  ample  provision  for 
field  service,  especially  at  posts  where  active  service  against 
Indians  or  on  riot  duty  was  possible. 

Further  than  this,  it  is  believed  the  available  medical  sup- 
plies were  sufficient  for  the  then  existing  army  for  any  duty, 
though  necessarily  additions  would  have  to  be  made  in  mobiliz- 
ing for  foreign  service.  Up  to  the  time  war  was  declared,  it 
was  not  practicable  to  take  any  immediate  steps  to  obtain  sup- 
plies owing  to  the  wording  by  Congress  of  the  appropriation 
bill  and  hence  there  was  no  money  available  from  which  to 
make  purchases.  But  immediately  after  the  war  was  declared 
and  money  became  available  many  medicines  were  purchased  in 
the  open  market,  but  a  great  number  of  articles  indispensable 
to  an  effective  service  in  camp  or  field,  could  not  be  readily 
obtained  in  the  open  market.  This  was  especially  true  of 
medicine  chests  and  apparatus,  surgical  instruments,  hospital 
tents,  and  furniture.  I  repeat  what  has  been  asserted  that  "If 
the  wording  of  the  Act  of  Congress  had  permitted  the  War 
Department  to  make  use  of  some  portion  of  the  $50,000,000  for 
offensive  preparation,  much  could  have  been  accomplished 
between  March  9  and  April  23  in  the  way  of  getting  ready  for 
the  impending  conflict.  It  will  always  be  a  subject  of  regret 
that  the  bill  did  not  grant  this  privilege. 

But  already  before  April  1,  in  view  of  the  possibility  of 
future  needs,  orders  were  given  to  have  the  field  medical  out- 
fits, medical  and  surgical  chests,  instruments,  etc.,  at  the  supply 
depots  put  in  order  for  issue  immediately  in  case  of  need,  and 


170  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

early  in  March  the  preparation  of  new  pattern  medical  and 
surgical  chests  was  begun  so  as  to  have  them  ready  for  manu- 
facture should  the  necessity  arise. 

Immediately  upon  the  declaration  of  war,  April  21,  steps 
were  taken  to  obtain  medical  supplies  for  the  new  volunteer 
army.  For  the  more  important  articles,  and  those  of  highest 
cost,  bids  were  invited  at  short  notice,  such,  for  instance,  as 
medical  and  surgical  chests,  litters  and  slings,  field  operating 
cases,  pocket-cases,  orderly  and  hospital  corps  pouches,  etc. 
Orders  were  given  and  the  manufacture  expedited  with  the 
utmost  dispatch. 

Requests  for  proposals  for  the  usual  spring  purchases  had 
been  made  in  March,  but  to  obtain  medicines  and  other  addi- 
tional supplies,  in  view  of  a  state  of  war,  advantage  was  taken 
of  authority  granted  by  Act  of  Congress  and  purchases  were 
made  in  open  market,  the  interests  of  the  Government  being 
guarded  by  obtaining  informal  bids  when  the  amount  was  large 
and  time  permitted. 

May  3,  foreseeing  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  have  ready 
for  issue  to  the  volunteer  regiments,  as  soon  as  they  were 
mustered  in,  the  medical  and  surgical  chests  above  referred  to, 
as  well  as  other  articles  of  field  equipment,  although  their  prep- 
aration was  pushed  with  the  utmost  dispatch,  I  telegraphed  the 
governors  of  the  several  states  for  authority  to  utilize  the  medi- 
cal equipment  of  the  National  Guard  in  the  service  of  the  state 
volunteers,  until  our  Army  medical  supplies  were  ready  for 
issue.  Most  of  the  governors  of  the  states  who  had  field 
equipment  responded  promptly  and  satisfactorily,  but  unfortu- 
nately many  of  the  state  medical  departments  had  no  such 
equipment.  These  deficiencies  were  supplied  by  the  issue  of  the 
advance  field  regimental  outfits,  referred  to  hereafter.  Most 
of  the  state  field  medical  equipment  so  loaned  has  been,  or  prob- 
ably will  be,  eventually  paid  for  by  the  United  States. 

Meanwhile  the  officers  in  charge  of  the  medical  supply  depots 
in  New  York  and  St.  Louis  were  directed  to  make  arrange- 
ments so  that  supplies  could  be  immediately  obtained  for 
100,000  men  for  six  months.  As  the  supply  table  published  in 
1896  was  prepared  for  garrison  use  in  time  of  peace  and  was 
inappropriate  for  use  of  troops  in  the  field,  a  field  supply  table 
was  prepared  and  approved  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  May  9, 
1898. 

This  supply  table  specifies  the  contents  of  the  medical  and 
surgical  chests,  the  hospital  corps  and  orderly  pouches,  field 
operating  surgeons,  field  and  pocket-cases,  mess  chests,  and 
field  desk,  and  gives  the  allowance  of  medicines  and  disinfect- 
ants, hospital  stores,  stationery,  furniture,  bedding,  clothing, 
and  miscellaneous  articles  for  field  hospitals  and  ambulance 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  171 

trains.  It  was  intended  to  provide  for  the  needs  of  commands 
in  active  service  where  only  a  limited  supply  of  articles  could 
be  carried  owing  to  the  necessity  of  restricting  transportation. 

But  as  soon  as  it  was  evident  that  the  troops  were  likely  to 
be  retained  in  camps  of  instruction,  notification  was  given  that 
articles  on  the  regular  supply  table  could  also  be  obtained. 
August  12,  in  Circular  No.  6,  from  this  office,  I  again  called 
attention  to  this  subject,  directing  chief  surgeons  of  army  corps, 
of  divisions,  and  of  smaller  commands  to  make  timely  requisi- 
tions for  supplies  by  telegraph  if  necessary,  and  to  see  that  field 
hospitals  in  which  typhoid  fever  and  other  serious  cases  were 
treated  were  liberally  supplied  with  disinfectants  and  all  articles 
necessary  for  the  treatment  and  comfort  of  the  sick. 

New  forms  of  surgical  dressings  especially  designed  for  field 
use  composed  of  sterilized,  sublimated  and  iodoform  gauze; 
sterilized  gauze  bandages,  absorbent  cotton,  catgut  and  silk, 
sterilized  and  packed  in  convenient  envelopes,  compressed  cot- 
ton sponges  and  plaster  of  Paris  bandages  were  also  prepared 
under  the  immediate  supervision  of  this  office.  Samples  of 
these  were  sent  to  the  three  supply  depots,  New  York,  St.  Louis 
and  San  Francisco,  and  all  issues  directed  to  be  in  conformity 
therewith.  Forty  boxes  of  these  specially  prepared  dressings 
were  put  up  at  the  temporary  supply  depot,  Army  Medical 
Museum,  Washington,  D.  C,  and  sent  to  Tampa,  Fla.,  for  use 
of  the  army  about  to  sail  for  Cuba. 

To  provide  temporarily  for  volunteer  regiments  organized 
and  ordered  to  camps  before  the  new  medical  and  surgical 
chests  were  ready  for  issue,  supplies  of  medicines,  instruments, 
hospital  stores,  stationery  and  miscellaneous  articles,  according 
to  the  prescribed  list  and  packed  in  convenient  boxes  were  pre- 
pared at  the  supply  depots.  An  important  article  to  be  pro- 
vided was  the  "first  aid  packet,"  containing  antiseptic  dressings 
for  immediate  use  in  emergencies  and  intended  to  be  carried 
by  each  individual  soldier.  These  were  promptly  and  liberally 
supplied. 

Whenever  notice  was  received  from  the  Adjutant-General's 
Office  that  commands  were  to  be  moved  or  camps  formed,  I 
endeavored  to  anticipate  the  wants  of  the  troops  by  telegraphing 
the  officer  in  charge  of  the  nearest  supply  depot  to  forward 
supplies  for  the  stated  number  of  men  according  to  the  field 
supply  table.  Requests  from  medical  officers  for  supplies  and 
orders  based  thereon  transmitted  to  the  supply  depots  were 
largely  by  telegraph,  and  orders  were  given  when  the  supplies 
were  needed  promptly  they  should  be  forwarded  by  express  to 
their  destination.  When  a  medical  officer  desired  to  purchase 
medical  and  other  supplies  for  use  in  emergencies,  authority  to 
do  so  was  always  granted.  Extensive  purchases  of  medical  sup- 
plies were  made  direct  from  this  office  from  dealers  in  Wash- 


172  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

ington,  Baltimore,  and  Philadelphia  to  provide  for  the 
immediate  wants  of  troops  at  Camp  Alger,  Va.,  and  the  gen- 
eral hospitals  at  Fort  Myer,  Va.,  Washington  Barracks,  D.  C. 
and  Fortress  Monroe,  Va.  This  was  done  not  only  to  meet  with 
promptness  the  urgent  needs  of  troops  and  hospitals  in  the 
vicinity,  but  to  relieve  somewhat  the  great  pressure  upon  the 
supply  depot  at  New  York. 

In  addition  to  the  field  supply  table  issued  May  9,  1898,  a 
revised  edition  of  the  Manual  for  the  Medical  Department  was 
published.  These,  together  with  the  2,400  copies  of  a  revised 
edition  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Smart's  Handbook  for  the  Hospi- 
tal Corps,  were  freely  distributed  throughout  the  Army,  so  that 
medical  offictrs  might  become  acquainted  with  the  proper  mode 
of  obtaining  supplies  and  their  many  other  important  duties. 
It  is  impossible  to  give  a  full  list  of  medical  supplies  that  were 
provided,  but  the  following  list  will  give  an  idea  of  the  amounts 
of  some  of  the  principal  articles. 

First-aid  packets 272,000 

Orderly  pouches 5,797 

Pocket-cases   509 

Surgeon's  field  cases 962 

Field  operating  cases 369 

Medical  and  surgical  chests 328 

Litters   1,204 

Litter  slings 2,259 

Cots  and  bedsteads,  with  bedding 7,600 

Blankets,  gray 18,185 

Field  desks 440 

Quinine  pills 7,500,000 

Chloroform  and  ether  bottles 13,220 

Gauze,  sublimated,  packages 100,625 

Gauze  bandages,  3  sizes,  1  meter  packages  331,776 

The  medical  supply  depot  in  New  York,  Lieut.-Col.  J.  M. 
Brown  in  charge,  supplied  the  posts  in  New  England,  the 
Middle  States,  and  along  the  Atlantic  Coast  including  Florida, 
and  the  troops  that  have  been  sent  to  and  are  now  serving  in 
Cuba  and  Porto  Rico.  Ordinarily  requisitions  received  from 
officers  serving  in  the  localities  mentioned  were  acted  on  and 
sent  by  the  next  mail  to  the  depot  for  issue,  but  as  already 
stated  the  telegraph  and  express  companies  were  brought  into 
use  where  the  necessity  called  for  prompt  action.  The  pres- 
sure on  this  depot  was  at  times  extremely  great  in  supplying 
the  troops  sent  to  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  and  the  large  camps  at 
Falls  Church,  Va.,  Middletown,  Pa.,  Hempstead  and  Montauk 
Point,  N.  Y.,  and  Jacksonville,  Fernandina  and  Miami,  Fla. 
On  account  of  the  great  urgency  attending  the  establishment 
of  Camp  Wycoff  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  New  York  supply 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  173 

depot  was  directed  to  honor  all  requisitions  made  by  the  chief 
surgeon  at  Montauk  Point  without  referring  them  for  approval 
of  this  office. 

The  medical  supply  depot  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  under  charge  of 
Col.  J.  P.  Wright,  Assistant  Surgeon-General,  supplied  the 
states  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  region  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  including  Texas.  The  large  camp  at  Chickamauga 
was  supplied  entirely  from  this  depot,  together  with  the  camps 
at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  Lexington,  Ky.,  Anniston,  Huntsville  and 
Mobile,  Ala.,  and  New  Orleans,  La.  Many  articles  were  sent 
from  this  depot  to  the.  supply  officer  at  San  Francisco,  Calif., 
for  the  use  of  the  Philippine  expeditions.  Owing  to  the  dis- 
tance of  the  camps  at  Lexington,  Knoxville,  Huntsville  and 
Anniston  from  Washington,  the  chief  surgeons  of  these  several 
camps  were  authorized  to  draw  upon  the  depot  at  St.  Louis  for 
any  article  on  the  supply  table  without  submitting  requisitions 
in  advance  to  this  office.  The  officers  in  charge  of  the  depots 
at  New  York  and  St.  Louis  were  directed  July  8,  to  keep  in 
stock  1,000  iron  beds  or  cots,  with  a  full  supply  of  bedding, 
ready  for  immediate  issue. 

The  responsibility  of  supplying  the  posts  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
and  of  outfitting  the  troops  leaving  for  the  Philippine  Islands 
was  placed  upon  Lieut.-Col.  J.  V.  D.  Middleton,  Deputy 
Surgeon-General  in  charge  of  the  supply  depot  at  San  Fran- 
ciso,  Calif.  As  much  delay  and  expense  of  transportation 
would  have  been  incurred  by  sending  supplies  from  Eastern 
depots  to  San  Francisco,  Colonel  Middleton  was  authorized  to 
purchase  at  discretion  all  necessary  medicines,  hospital  stores, 
instruments,  and  miscellaneous  supplies  of  every  kind  needed 
for  the  troops  going  to  Manila.  Articles  of  special  manufac- 
ture, such  as  medical  and  surgical  chests,  litters,  and  litter 
slings,  hospital  corps  and  orderly  pouches,  and  the  specially 
prepared  field  dressing,  already  referred  to,  were  shipped  to 
San  Francisco  from  St.  Louis,  not  being  obtainable  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.  The  distance  of  San  Francisco  from  the  center 
of  the  Government  was  so  considerable  that  the  officer  in  charge 
of  that  depot  was  necessarily  given  large  discretion  in  the  pur- 
chase of  supplies  and  expenditure  of  funds.  Lieut. -Colonel 
Middleton  deserves  great  credit  for  the  efficient  service  ren- 
dered by  him  both  as  medical  supply  officer  and  as  Chief  Sur- 
geon of  the  Department  of  California. 

RAILROAD     AMBULANCE     TRAIN 

A  railroad  ambulance  train  was  in  my  opinion  essential  to 
the  well-being  of  the  sick  and  wounded  during  transportation 
from  Tampa,  Fla.,  the  probable  base  of  operations  in  Cuba,  to 
general  hospitals  in  the  interior.  Accordingly,  May  30,  1898,  I 
recommended  the  equipment  of  a  train  to  consist  of  ten  tourist 


174  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

sleepers  and  a  dining  car.  This  was  approved,  and  June  16,  I 
was  informed  that  a  train  of  ten  Pullman  sleepers,  a  dining 
car,  a  private  car,  and  a  combination  car  was  ready  for  service. 
The  train  was  inspected  by  Maj.  Charles  Richard,  Surgeon, 
United  States  Army,  who  was  placed  in  command;  one 
assistant-surgeon,  two  stewards,  twenty  privates  of  the  Hospital 
Corps,  and  three  civilian  employes  were  assigned  to  him  for 
service.  The  train  was  amply  provided  with  all  the  medicines, 
hospital  stores  and  comforts  required  for  the  patients  to  be 
transported.  The  first  trip  made  was  from  Washington,  D.  C, 
to  Tampa,  Fla.,  for  the  purpose  of  transporting  sick  from  the 
latter  place  to  general  hospital  at  Fort  McPherson,  Atlanta, 
Ga.  Tampa  was  reached  June  19;  Fort  McPherson  June  22. 
Here  the  Pullman  cars  were  exchanged  for  the  tourist  sleepers 
originally  requested.  The  latter  were  much  better  adapted  for 
hospital  purposes  on  account  of  their  general  arrangement,  bet- 
ter ventilation,  and  convenience  for  cleanliness  and  the  han- 
dling of  patients.  They  had  134  lower  and  136  upper  berths, 
giving  a  total  carrying  capacity  of  270.  It  was  impracticable, 
however,  to  use  the  upper  berths  for  severe  cases  on  account 
of  the  impossibility  of  giving  proper  care  and  attention  to  such 
patients  occupying  them. 

Several  trips  were  made  between  Tampa  and  Atlanta,  on  each 
of  which  great  delay  was  encountered  involving  inconvenience 
and  anxiety  to  all  concerned,  and  discomfort  and  even  harm  to 
the  sick  was  occasioned  by  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  a  prompt 
response  from  local  quartermasters  to  requisitions  for  the  neces- 
sary transportation.  On  one  occasion,  after  a  delay  of  twenty- 
four  hours,  telegraphic  communication  with  Washington  had  to 
be  established  before  a  movement  was  made.  However,  July 
4,  Capt.  H.  R.  Stiles,  Assistant  Surgeon,  United  States  Army, 
on  duty  with  the  train,  was  appointed  an  acting  quartermaster 
with  authority  to  issue  transportation  requests.  Major  Richard 
reported  on  this  as  follows : 

"Not  only  has  this  change  given  me  more  time  to  attend  to 
the  more  important  functions  of  my  charge,  and  has  avoided 
many  vexatious  delays,  but  it  has  enabled  me  to  come  in  direct 
communication  with  the  railroads,  and  a  better  understanding 
is  reached  regarding  speed,  routes,  and  care  of  train  en  route,  all 
of  which  factors  should  be  considered  in  a  service  which  has 
for  its  object  the  comfortable  and  rapid  transportation  of  the 
sick  and  wounded." 

July  9,  the  hospital  train  met  the  transport  Cherokee  at  Port 
Tampa,  Fla.,  on  her  return  from  Santiago  with  323  sick  and 
wounded,  removed  87  that  same  night  to  the  hospital  on  Tampa 
Heights,  and  on  the  following  day  left  for  Atlanta  with  235 
patients.    This  number  together  with  the  hospital  corps  detach- 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  175 

ment  and  civilians  taxed  the  capacity  of  the  train  to  its  utmost, 
especially  in  the  way  of  serving  meals ;  but  all  wants  were  fully 
supplied.  During  this  trip,  while  the  engine  was  taking  on 
water,  the  hospital  train  was  struck  in  the  rear  by  a  passenger 
train.  A  caboose  on  the  rear  train  was  completely  shattered ; 
the  private  car  used  by  the  medical  officers  was  so  badly  injured 
as  to  necessitate  its  abandonment,  and  many  of  the  platforms 
were  splintered,  while  the  sick  and  wounded  were  severely 
shaken  up  by  the  collision,  but  fortunately  no  serious  casualty 
resulted.  Up  to  August  31,  the  hospital  train  had  run  17,500 
miles  and  transported  1,923  patients  with  only  four  deaths. 
Notwithstanding  the  large  number  of  typhoid  cases  transported 
and  the  difficulty  of  handling  such  cases  on  this  train,  disinfec- 
tion was  so  efficiently  carried  out  that  no  cases  of  this  disease 
occurred  among  the  personnel  of  the  train.  The  utmost  care 
was  given  to  the  disinfection  of  excreta  to  prevent  any  danger 
of  the  dissemination  of  this  disease  during  the  transportation 
of  the  sick. 

HOSPITAL    SHIPS 

April  15,  1898,  General  Sternberg  applied  for  a  ship  to  be 
used  as  a  hospital  ship.  After  an  inspection  had  been  made 
of  various  ships  offered,  he  recommended,  April  23,  the  pur- 
chase of  the  S.S.  John  Englis  as  well  adapted  for  the  purpose 
in  view — a  floating  hospital  for  the  care  of  the  sick  and 
wounded.  It  was  to  serve  at  any  point  on  the  Cuban  coast  for 
the  transportation  of  the  sick  to  any  other  point  on  our  own 
coast  and  to  act  at  the  same  time  as  a  depot  of  reserve  medical 
supplies  for  troops  in  the  field. 

This  recommendation  was  not  approved  at  the  time,  and 
various  other  ships  were  inspected,  but  none  found  to  be  suit- 
able. May  18,  by  direction  of  the  President,  the  John  Englis 
was  purchased,  and  the  Quartermaster's  Department  took 
charge  of  her  to  prepare  her  for  the  special  service  required. 
Maj.  George  H.  Torney,  Surgeon,  U.  S.  Army,  was  directed  to 
make  recommendations  with  reference  to  necessary  alterations 
and  apparatus,  and  was  subsequently  placed  in  command  of 
the  ship.  The  work  necessary  to  make  the  vessel  serviceable 
for  the  purposes  in  view  required  much  more  time  than  was 
at  first  anticipated,  as  may  be  gathered  from  a  note  written 
by  General  Sternberg  to  Major  Torney,  June  12: 

The  hospital  ship  will  be  required  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment  to  go  to  Santiago,  where  you  are  likely  to  have  plenty 


176  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

of  sick  and  wounded  men  awaiting  your  arrival.  I  trust  that 
you  will  do  every  thing  in  your  power  to  have  the  ship  ready 
for  orders  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  Be  sure  to  get 
everything  on  board  as  soon  as  possible,  for  when  you  get  your 
orders  we  want  no  delay  on  the  ground  that  certain  articles  for 
which  requisitions  have  been  made  are  not  yet  on  board  ship. 

June  22,  he  again  wrote : 

You  will  do  everything  in  your  power  to  expedite  the  work 
upon  the  hospital  ship  Relief,  and  when  she  is  ready  for  sea, 
report  to  me  by  telegraph.  Upon  receiving  telegraphic  orders 
to  that  effect,  you  will  proceed  directly  to  Santiago  de  Cuba, 
reporting  your  arrival  to  the  Commanding  General  at  that 
point.  Your  ship  should  be  anchored  in  a  safe  harbor  at  such 
point  as  may  be  designated  by  the  proper  authorities,  and  as 
near  as  possible  to  the  seat  of  active  operations.  You  will 
receive  on  board  up  to  the  full  capacity  of  the  ship  the  sick 
and  wounded  of  the  Army  and  Navy  and  care  for  them  exactly 
as  if  they  were  in  a  general  hospital,  and  you  will  be  expected 
to  make  such  reports  and  returns  as  are  required  by  regula- 
tions for  a  general  hospital. 

Your  attention  is  especially  invited  to  Army  Regulation  1433, 
and  should  anyone  attempt  to  exercise  unauthorized  authority 
over  you  or  your  ship,  you  will  invite  their  attention  to  this 
regulation.  When  in  your  judgment  or  that  of  the  commanding 
general  or  the  chief  surgeon  of  the  troops  at  whatever  point 
you  may  be  located,  it  is  desirable  that  you  should  proceed  to 
a  home  port  for  the  purpose  of  landing  the  sick  and  wounded, 
you  will,  if  practicable,  communicate  with  me  by  telegraph, 
and  orders  will  be  sent  you  designating  the  port  for  which  you 
should  sail.  If  it  is  not  practicable  to  communicate  with  me 
by  telegraph,  you  should  apply  to  the  commanding  general  of 
the  troops  for  orders  to  proceed  to  such  home  port  as  may  be 
desirable  and  immediately  upon  your  arrival  you  should  com- 
municate with  me  by  telegraph  in  order  that  arrangements  may 
be  made  to  transfer  the  sick  and  wounded  to  a  general  hospi- 
tal. You  will  issue  medical  supplies  upon  properly  approved 
requisitions  to  troops  in  the  field  and  will  do  everything  in  your 
power  to  aid  the  medical  officers  with  the  troops,  in  providing 
for  the  comfort  of  the  sick  and  the  issue  of  ice,  hospital  stores, 
and  such  delicacies  as  you  may  have  at  your  disposal.  When 
practicable,  you  will  send  to  me  once  a  week  a  telegraphic 
report  showing  the  number  of  patients  of  the  Army  and  of 
the  Navy  on  board  the  hospital  ship.  You  should  make  timely 
requisition  for  necessary  supplies  for  use  on  the  ship  and  for 
issue  to  the  troops  in  the  field. 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  177 

Further  instructions  were  sent  June  27 : 

You  should  keep  in  view  the  fact  that  the  Relief  is  a  well- 
equipped  floating  hospital  and  a  depot  of  supplies  for  troops 
in  the  field.  It  is  important,  therefore,  that  she  should  not  be 
taken  away  from  the  scene  of  active  operations  unless  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  landing  the  sick  and 
wounded  at  a  home  port.  You  should  avail  yourself  of  every 
opportunity  to  send  proper  cases  by  the  navy  ambulance  ship 
Solace,  or  by  army  transports  returning  to  home  ports.  As  a 
rule,  the  more  serious  cases  of  injury  and  sickness  should  be 
retained  on  your  ship,  as  the  disturbance  incident  to  a  sea 
voyage  would  be  injurious  to  them.  Convalescents  and  those 
sick  and  wounded  who  can  be  transported  without  injury  to 
themselves,  and  who  are  not  likely  to  be  fit  for  duty  within  a 
short  time,  should  be  sent  to  a  home  port,  whenever  an  oppor- 
tunity offers. 

Further  particulars  regarding  our  first  hospital  ships  are  con- 
tained in  General  Sternberg's  report : 

The  Relief  sailed  from  New  York,  July  2,  and  arrived  at 
Siboney  on  the  7th.  She  left  Sibony  July  19,  with  254  sick 
and  wounded  and  arrived  at  New  York  on  the  23d.  She  sailed 
for  Ponce,  Porto  Rico,  August  3,  and  returned  to  New  York 
on  the  19th  with  255  sick  and  wounded.  The  vessel  made 
another  trip  to  Ponce,  Porto  Rico,  returning  with  sick,  Sep- 
tember 6,  to  Philadelphia,  whence  she  went  to  Montauk  Point 
to  transport  sick  to  hospitals  in  Boston  and  Philadelphia. 
Another  trip  to  Porto  Rico  was  then  made,  the  vessel  return- 
ing, October  11,  to  Fortress  Monroe,  Va. 

July  1,  1898,  Mr.  N.  B.  Baker,  President  of  the  Atlantic 
Transport  Line,  Baltimore,  Md.  tendered  the  S.S.  Missouri, 
with  her  captain  and  crew  to  the  Government  as  a  hospital  ship. 
This  generous  and  patriotic  offer  was  accepted  by  the  Secretary 
of  War  and  Maj.  W.  H.  Arthur,  Surgeon  U.  S.  Volunteers 
(assistant-surgeon  U.  S.  Army)  was  ordered  to  take  charge  of 
her  preparation  for  service  and  subsequently  to  command  her. 
It  was  recognized  that  considerable  refitting  would  be  required 
before  the  vessel  could  be  utilized.  Ten  days  or  two  weeks  was 
the  period  estimated  as  needful  to  permit  of  making  the  neces- 
sary alterations  and  providing  the  vessel  with  a  steam  laundry, 
steam  sterilizing  apparatus,  and  ice  and  carbonating  plants,  but 
it  was  not  until  August  23  that  the  ship  was  reported  ready  to 
sail,  and  even  then  a  good  deal  of  work  had  to  be  done  on 
board  during  the  stormy  passage  to  Santiago.  She  returned 
from  Cuba  with  256  sick  men,  who  were  landed  at  Montauk 


178  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Point.  Her  second  voyage  was  to  Porto  Rico,  whence  she 
brought  270  patients  to  the  "Josiah  Simpson  Hospital," 
Fortress  Monroe,  Va.,  on  October  6th. 

The  hospital  ship  Olivette  was  a  steamship  which  had  been 
doing  service  as  a  water  boat  for  the  fleet  of  transports  when 
Lieut.-Colonel  Pope,  Chief  Surgeon  of  the  Fifth  Army  Corps 
selected  her  for  use  as  a  hospital  ship  during  the  voyage  from 
Tampa,  Fla.,  to  Santiago,  Cuba.  The  equipment  of  one  of  the 
field  division  hospitals  of  the  Corps  was  used  in  outfitting  her 
for  the  work.  On  the  arrival  of  the  fleet  at  Daiquisi,  she 
relieved  the  transports  of  their  sick,  many  of  whom  were  later 
transferred  to  the  steamer  Iroquois,  so  that  room  was  made  on 
the  improvised  hospital  boat  for  the  wounded  expected  from 
the  impending  battle.  The  Olivette  answered  her  extempor- 
ized purpose  excellently.  She  left  Santiago  July  9,  with  279 
wounded  officers  and  men  and  reached  New  York  on  the  16th. 
She  returned  to  Santiago  with  medical  supplies  for  the  troops, 
and  August  15  sailed  with  203  sick  men,  who  were  distributed 
in  Boston  city  hospitals.  The  Olivette  sailed  August  25  from 
Boston  under  order  for  Fernandina,  Fla.,  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  sick  back  to  the  general  hospital  at  Fortress  Monroe, 
Va.  August  31,  while  coaling  in  stormy  weather  off  quarantine 
at  Fernandina,  she  listed  heavily,  filled  with  water,  and  sank 
in  20  feet  of  water.    No  loss  of  life  occurred. 

THE     HEALTH     OF    THE    TROOPS 

Promptly  following  the  declaration  of  war,  arrangements 
were  made  by  the  War  Department  to  recruit  the  Regular 
Army  to  its  war  strength,  and  to  muster  in  the  volunteer  troops 
called  out  by  the  proclamation  of  the  President.  The  Regular 
Army  at  that  time  consisted  of  well  developed  men,  sound  in 
physique,  and  well  drilled  and  disciplined.  In  its  ranks  were 
only  about  forty  boys  under  21  years  of  age  enlisted  as  musi- 
cians ;  but  when  recruiting  was  begun  the  minimum  age  for 
enlistment  in  the  regulars  was  reduced  to  18  years,  and  the 
boys  of  this  age  were  accepted  for  the  volunteers.  In  my 
opinion  this  reduction  of  the  age  limit  had  a  notable  influence 
in  increasing  the  prevalence  of  diseases  among  the  troops.  All 
military  experience  shows  that  young  men  under  21  years  break 
down  readily  under  the  strain  of  war  service,  and  every  regi- 
ment had  many  of  these  youths  in  its  ranks. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  also,  that  the  haste  with  which  the 
volunteer  regiments  were  organized  and  mustered  into  the 
service  was  responsible  for  much  of  the  sickness  which  was 
reported  in  the  early  days  of  their  camp  life.  Medical  exam- 
iners were  appointed  to  testify  to  the  physical  qualifications 
of  each  man  before  acceptance,  but  notwithstanding  this, 
which  at  the  time  was  characterized  in  the  press  as  a  very 


SPANISH-AMERICAN     WAR  179 

rigorous  procedure,  so  many  men  were  afterwards  found  on 
the  sick  lists  of  the  camps  unfit  for  service  from  causes  exist- 
ing prior  to  enlistment,  that  special  arrangements  had  to  be 
made  for  their  discharge. 

PRIMARY    CAUSES    OF    SICKNESS 

Soon  after  the  newly  raised  levies  were  aggregated  in  large 
camps,  sickness  began  to  increase  progressively  from  causes 
that  were  so  general  in  their  operation  that  scarcely  a  regiment 
escaped  from  their  harmful  influence.  These  causes  may  all 
be  referred  to  ignorance  on  the  part  of  officers  of  the  elemen- 
tary principles  of  camp  sanitation,  and  of  their  duties  and 
responsibilities  as  regards  the  welfare  of  the  enlisted  men  in 
their  commands. 

Officers  who  were  responsible  for  the  clothing  and  equip- 
ment of  their  men,  for  their  shelter,  drill,  discipline,  and  per- 
sonal cleanliness  —  in  fact,  for  their  comfort,  well-being  and 
sound  physical  condition,  were  to  a  large  extent  ignorant  of 
how  to  act  in  order  to  sustain  their  responsibilities,  and  others 
were  even  ignorant  that  these  responsibilities  rested  on  them. 
Medical  officers,  as  a  rule,  were  almost  without  experience  in 
the  sanitation  of  camps  and  the  prevention  of  disease  among 
troops.  The  few  who  knew  what  should  be  done  were  insuffi- 
cient to  control  the  sanitary  situation  in  the  large  aggregation 
of  men  hastily  gathered  together.  As  a  result  officers  and  men 
appeared  to  me  to  have  regarded  the  deplorable  insanitary 
conditions  under  which  they  live  in  their  camps  of  organiza- 
tion, as  the  inevitable  conditions  of  camp  life  preparatory  for 
field  service,  and  to  have  accepted  them  without  question  until 
general  attention  was  attracted  to  them  by  an  outbreak  of 
typhoid  fever.  Officers  and  men  in  these  camps  were  ripe  for 
war,  and  drill,  and  parade,  practice  marches  and  military  camp 
duties  occupied  the  whole  of  their  time  and  energies.  Domestic 
economy  and  sanitation  in  companies  and  regiments  were  not 
given  proper  consideration,  and  men  who  were  being  taught  to 
meet  the  enemy  in  battle  succumbed  to  the  hardships  and 
insanitary  conditions  of  life  in  their  camps  of  instruction. 

The  sites  of  certain  of  the  camps  have  been  instanced  in  the 
newspapers  as  the  cause  of  the  sickness  that  was  developed  in 
them.  It  is  true  in  some  localities,  the  sinks  could  not  be  made 
of  the  proper  depth  on  account  of  the  underlying  rock ;  in  others 
a  substratum  of  impermeable  clay,  and  in  others  again  a  high 
level  of  subsoil  water  interfered  with  a  satisfactory  condition 
of  the  sinks.  At  Miami,  Fla.,  the  water  supply  was  generally 
regarded  as  not  good,  and  at  Camp  Merritt,  Calif.,  the  climatic 
conditions  were  such  as  to  lead  to  its  speedy  abandonment. 
But  these  were  local  conditions,  while  the  sickness  which 
invaded  the  camps  was  general  in  its  onset.    A  review  of  the 


180  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

whole  situation  shows  that  it  was  not  the  site  but  the  manner 
of  its  occupation  which  must  be  held  responsible  for  the  general 
spread  of  disease  among  the  troops. 

OVERCROWDED     CAMP     SITES 

The  primary  evil  was  overcrowding  the  site.  The  aggrega- 
tion of  troops  was  effected  hastily.  On  his  arrival  at  Camp 
Alger  the  medical  officer  assigned  to  duty  as  chief  surgeon 
found  a  number  of  regiments  in  camp.  "Troops  were  arriving 
with  every  train,  generally  without  previous  announcement, 
and  these  camped  where  they  saw  fit."  As  a  general  hygienic 
as  well  as  a  military  principle,  troops  in  the  field  should  encamp 
in  rear  of  their  color  line.  The  area  occupied  as  a  camping 
ground  should  be  as  wide  as  the  color  line  is  long.  This  gives 
wide  streets,  ample  space  for  the  separation  of  tents,  and  a 
front  which  affords  room  for  the  needful  sink  accommodation. 
But  no  principle  of  this  kind  was  manifest  in  the  regimental 
camps  of  the  newly  organized  commands.  On  the  contrary, 
the  idea  seemed  to  prevail  that  the  troops  should  be  com- 
pacted as  much  as  possible.  Both  at  Alger  and  Chickamauga 
the  companies  of  a  regiment  were  crowded  on  an  area  insuffi- 
cient for  those  of  a  battalion,  and  brigades  were  packed  together 
with  scarcely  an  interval  between  the  regiments. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Smart,  in  his  inspection  of  Camp  Alger, 
found  company  streets  hardly  wider  than  the  intervals  between 
adjacent  companies  should  have  been,  and  tents  of  the  same 
company  in  contact  with  each  other  on  the  sides,  and  in  contact 
on  the  ends  with  those  of  the  adjoining  company,  so  that  the 
double  row  of  tents  between  the  narrow  company  streets  made 
a  continuous  canvas  covering  70  to  80  feet  long  and  16  feet 
wide,  under  which  100  men  had  to  find  shelter.  Even  when 
space  was  allowed  between  the  tents  of  the  same  adjacent 
companies,  it  was  wholly  insufficient  for  proper  trenching, 
ventilation  and  passageway.  With  streets  reduced  in  some 
instances  to  a  width  of  only  13  feet,  the  natural  surface  of 
the  ground  with  its  matting  of  grass  roots  is  speedily  eroded 
and  the  camp  surface  converted  into  a  layer  of  dust  or  mud, 
according  to  the  character  of  the  weather.  This  constitutes 
a  serious  evil,  but  the  great  sanitary  ojection  to  crowding  the 
area  in  this  way,  is  that  the  slops  and  garbage  of  the  kitchens 
and  the  excreta  of  the  sinks  are  too  near  to  the  quarters  of  the 
men.  Fecal  odors  were  perceptible  in  many  of  the  camp  streets, 
and  of  certain  regimental  camps  it  is  reported  that  their  odors 
were  in  themselves  a  veritable  nuisance.  The  contracted  front 
of  the  camp  gave  no  room  for  a  sink  of  the  proper  size  for  each 
company.  A  battalion  of  troops  had  to  use  a  sink  insufficient 
to  accommodate  a  company.  It  was  impossible  to  keep  these 
pits  in  good  condition  when  used  by  so  many  men.     Covering 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  181 

the  excreta  at  regular  intervals  was  unsatisfactory,  as  fresh 
deposits  were  made  while  the  police  party  was  at  work.  Efforts 
were  made  to  remedy  this  by  requesting  the  individual  man  to 
cover  deposits  as  soon  as  made.  There  was  no  room  for  the 
only  efficient  remedy,  a  sufficient  number  of  properly  con- 
structed and  well  cared  for  sinks,  150  yards  in  front  of  the 
color  line,  or  at  a  corresponding  distance  on  the  flanks  of  the 
camp.  These  small  sinks  had  the  further  disadvantage  that 
they  were  filled  up  almost  as  soon  as  dug  and  had  to  be  replaced 
by  freshly  dug  pits,  so  that  in  a  short  time  the  whole  of  the 
contracted  front  of  the  camp  was  converted  into  sink  surfaces. 

INSANITARY    CAMP     SITES 

April  25,  1898,  foreseeing  the  likelihood  of  insanitary  con- 
ditions in  the  camps  of  our  newly  raised  troops,  and  with  the 
view  of  preventing  them,  I  issued  Circular  No.  1  from  this 
office  impressing  upon  medical  officers  their  responsibility  in 
sanitary  matters  and  the  necessity  for  a  strict  sanitary  police, 
particularly  in  the  care  of  the  sinks  and  in  the  preservation 
of  the  camp  area  from  contamination.  These  lessons  should 
have  been  heeded,  but  the  density  of  the  military  population  on 
the  area  of  these  contracted  camps  prevented  the  possibility 
of  a  good  sanitary  condition.  Camps  of  this  character  may 
be  occupied  for  a  week  or  two  at  a  time  without  serious  results, 
as  in  the  case  of  national  guardsmen  out  for  ten  days  field 
practice  during  the  summer,  but  their  continued  occupation 
inevitably  results  in  the  breaking  down  of  the  command  by 
diarrhea,  dysentery,  and  typhoid  fever.    [See  page  161.] 

Not  only  was  the  area  crowded  by  the  tentage,  but  the  indi- 
vidual tents  were  overcrowded.  Four  to  seven  men  were 
crowded  into  the  small  wedge-shaped  wall  tent  which  covers  an 
area  of  only  7  to  8  feet.  Some  company  and  regimental  com- 
manders encouraged  their  men  to  build  sleeping  bunks  or 
rather  low  platforms,  for  the  area  under  canvas  would  not 
permit  of  a  separate  bunk  for  each  man ;  others  directed  the 
men  to  carpet  the  floor  of  their  tents  with  pine  twigs  or  a  layer 
of  bark.  Others  again  had  straw  littered  on  the  floor;  but 
most  of  the  troops  lay  for  weeks  upon  the  ground,  their 
blankets  soiled  and  matted  with  dust,  and  their  clothes  soiled 
and  dusty,  for  it  was  impossible  to  preserve  anything  clean 
under  such  primitive  camp  conditions.  Facilities  for  bathing 
were  rarely  found  in  the  camps,  and  laundry  and  lavatory 
facilities  were  not  always  readily  available. 

These  troops  were  subjected  to  most  of  the  discomforts, 
hardships  and  climatic  exposures  inevitable  to  an  active  cam- 
paign, while  nominally  enjoying  the  comforts  of  a  fixed  camp 
of  instruction.  Only  on  active  service  in  front  of  an  enemy 
should  it  be  allowed  to  have  men  sleep  on  the  ground  for  weeks 


182  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

at  a  time,  under  insufficient  shelters,  and  with  inadequate 
facilities  for  personal  cleanliness.  On  active  service  many  of 
the  insanitary  features  of  their  surroundings  would  have  been 
removed.  While  campaigning  they  would  have  changed  camp 
sites  from  time  to  time,  and  would  have  been  freed  from  the 
harmful  influence  of  accumulated  filth,  while  opportunities  for 
bathing  would  have  been  presented  occasionally  in  passing  or 
camping  near  streams.  The  only  explanation  that  can  be  given 
is  that  the  officers,  military  and  medical,  having  no  experience 
of  military  life  in  the  field  assumed  that  the  deplorable  condi- 
tion in  which  they  were  living  was  the  usual  mode  of  life  of 
soldiers  situated  as  they  were,  and  that  their  duty  as  true 
soldiers  was  to  endure  not  only  without  complaint  but  with  a 
certain  pride,  the  hardships  of  their  camp  life.  Practically 
nothing  was  done  to  make  the  men  comfortable  or  to  remedy 
the  insanitary  conditions  until  these  were  brought  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Secretary  of  War  by  inspectors  sent  out  by  special 
orders  from  the  War  Department.  Then  the  camps  held  for 
so  long  were  abandoned,  but  not  before  the  manifestations  of 
typhoid  infection  were  rife  in  them.  New  sites  were  carefully 
selected,  regimental  camps  were  expanded,  company  tentage 
increased,  and  board  flooring  provided.  Then,  for  the  first 
time,  the  troops  went  into  camps  suitable  for  the  occasion. 

CAMP    DISEASES 

An  increased  prevalence  of  diarrheal  diseases  was  the  first 
manifestation  of  danger  in  the  early  camps.  Much  of  this 
was  no  doubt  due  to  the  chill  of  the  surface  in  cooling  off 
after  the  perspirations  attending  drills  in  hot  weather,  much 
to  the  sameness  of  diet  and  bad  cookery,  much  to  the  over- 
indulgence in  fruit  of  doubtful  quality,  pies,  etc.,  purchased 
from  peddlers  of  food  and  soft  drinks,  who  were  established 
in  business  in  or  around  most  of  the  camps,  and  much  to  simi- 
lar indiscretions  following  the  arrival  of  boxes  of  dainties  from 
friends  at  home.  Chill  of  the  surface  was  aggravated  by  the 
ignorance  or  recklessness  of  the  men,  few  of  whom  appreciated 
its  dangers.  The  sameness  of  diet  led  to  criticism  of  a  ration, 
which  is  not  only  more  liberal  than  that  of  any  foreign  military 
service  but  which  sustained  the  volunteers  of  the  Civil  War 
during  their  arduous  campaigns. 

Regimental  commissaries  and  company  commanders  require 
experience  which  few  of  our  volunteer  officers  possessed.  The 
annual  outings  of  the  National  Guard,  with  a  caterer  to  provide 
special  diet  for  the  men,  gave  no  opportunity  for  line  officers 
to  learn  how  to  use  fixed  rations  to  the  best  advantage  or  to 
exercise  the  needful  supervision  over  cooks  of  doubtful  quali- 
fications. 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  183 

Malarial  fevers  added  to  the  sick  lists  of  camps  in  Florida 
and  of  Southern  regiments  in  camps  in  Georgia  and  Virginia. 
It  was,  however,  typhoid  fever  which  broke  down  the  strength 
of  the  commands  generally;  the  outbreak  becoming  distinctly 
manifest  in  July.  Sporadic  cases  appeared  in  most  of  the 
regiments  in  May  and  June,  these  cases  having  been  brought 
in  many  instances  from  the  State  camps.  In  fact,  some  regi- 
ments, as  the  Fifteenth  Minnesota,  suffered  more  from  this 
disease  at  their  state  rendezvous  than  any  of  the  regiments  in 
the  large  Federal  camps.  A  few  of  the  regimental  commands 
of  the  latter  may  be  said  to  have  escaped  visitation.  The  sani- 
tary conditions  affecting  the  commands  in  the  various  camps 
have  been  studied  in  connection  with  the  prevalence  of  typhoid 
fever  among  the  men  by  a  board  of  medical  officers  consisting 
of  Majors  Reed,  Vaughan  and  Shakespeare,  but  the  results 
have  not  as  yet  been  reported  in  full. 

It  appears  to  me,  however,  from  a  general  review  of  the 
sanitary  reports  already  filed,  that  the  prevalence  of  the  disease 
was  proportioned  to  the  insanitary  camp  conditions  which  I 
have  described  above.  My  circular  No.  1,  already  cited,  was 
intended  to  bring  the  danger  from  this  fever  to  the  notice  of 
medical  officers  with  a  view  of  obviating  it.  The  probability 
of  its  communication  to  soldiers  in  camp  through  the  agency 
of  flies  was  pointed  out  as  a  reason  for  insisting  on  a  sanitary 
police  of  the  strictest  character.  At  the  time  of  the  outbreak 
and  rapid  spread  of  the  disease  all  the  camps  were  suffering 
from  what  my  reports  characterized  as  the  "plague  of  flies." 
Clouds  of  these  insects  swarmed  about  fecal  matter  and  filth  of 
all  kinds  deposited  on  the  ground  or  in  cesspools  or  sinks,  and 
conveyed  foul  and  infectious  matter  thence  to  the  food  exposed 
while  in  preparation  in  the  company  kitchens  or  while  being 
served  to  the  men. 

It  is  well  known  to  the  medical  profession  that  this  fever 
is  propagated  by  a  contaminated  water  supply,  and  it  is  now 
recognized  that  the  great  prevalence  of  this  disease  in  an 
aggravated  form  in  the  camps  of  the  Civil  War  was  due  to  the 
use  of  surface  and  shallow  well  waters  infected  by  typhoid 
excreta.  To  prevent  transmission  by  the  water  supply  I  recom- 
mended the  use  of  boiled  water  and  filtered  water  when  a  pure 
spring  supply  could  not  be  obtained,  and  to  enable  an  efficient 
filtration  of  suspected  waters  to  be  made,  field  filters  of 
approved  construction  were  issued  on  my  recommendation  by 
the  Quartermaster's  Department. 

Circular  No.  4,  May  31,  1898,  was  issued  from  my  office  that 
medical  and  company  officers  should  have  a  thorough  under- 
standing of  the  intention  and  action  of  these  filters  and  that 
the  full  benefit  of  their  use  might  be  secured  to  the  troops. 


184  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Chief  surgeons  were  instructed  to  forward  samples  of  water 
to  this  office  for  analysis,  whenever  a  doubt  existed  as  to  its 
quality,  and  the  water  supply  of  several  of  the  camps  was 
thereafter  kept  under  analytical  observation.  This  care  exer- 
cised in  the  exclusion  of  typhoid  infection  from  the  water  did 
much  to  retard  the  epidemic  progress  of  the  disease. 

Regiments  camped  near  each  other  and  using  water  from 
the  same  sources  were  not  equally  affected,  thus  showing  that 
the  cause  was  disseminated  in  other  ways  than  by  the  water 
supply.  The  disease  was  slow  in  its  development  at  Jackson- 
ville, Fla.,  which  had  a  water  supply  from  artesian  wells.  But 
the  infection  once  introduced  into  a  camp,  from  state  rendez- 
vous or  by  sporadic  infection  from  the  neighborhood,  began 
slowly  to  spread  on  account  of  the  close  contact  of  the  men 
through  overcrowding  and  bad  conditions  of  sinks. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  many  exciting  scenes  that  we 
encountered  in  our  home  during  the  Spanish-American  war. 
Our  country  was  unprepared  for  hostilities  because  of  the 
almost  general  belief  that  we  would  never  again  be  at  war  and 
because  of  our  pride  as  a  nation  that  we  never  went  to  war 
without  good  and  sufficient  cause.  Our  home  became  as  busy 
as  any  office.  Telegrams  came  at  all  hours,  the  telephone  rang 
almost  constantly,  and  wives  and  mothers  in  great  numbers 
sought  information  regarding  husbands  and  sons.  Our  evenings 
at  home  were  no  longer  for  rest  and  recuperation.  My  sym- 
pathetic husband  would  see  all  people  who  came  in  distress  and 
he  tried  to  answer  all  their  questions  as  best  he  could.  He  was, 
however,  severely  tried  when  telegraphic  messages  from  the 
governors  of  states  demanded  to  know  immediately  where  the 
state  train  was  and  why  it  was  being  delayed.  These  state 
trains  had  never  been  placed  under  his  orders,  and  he  was  in 
no  way  responsible  for  their  service. 

The  kindness  of  President  McKinley  is  one  circumstance 
which  stands  out  in  bold  relief  against  the  difficulties  of  those 
trying  days.  One  day  he  inquired  of  General  Sternberg  why 
I  had  not  made  my  usual  visits  to  Mrs.  McKinley,  and  he  was 
informed  that  I  was  all  broken  up  over  the  adverse  criticism 
of  the  conduct  of  the  war.  He  told  General  Sternberg  to  bring 
me  over,  as  I  evidently  needed  a  lesson  in  politics.  When  we 
met  the  following  Sunday  evening,  he  expressed  regret  that 
I  should  have  worried  over  the  newspaper  accounts,  remarking 
at  the  same  time,  that  I  did  not  understand  that  much  of  the 


SPANISH-AMERICAN     WAR  185 

criticism  was  for  political  effect  and  that  history  would  reveal 
that  we  had  all  done  our  duty,  and  in  the  meantime  we  had  at 
least  the  approval  of  our  conscience. 

SANITARY     LESSONS     OF     THE     WAR 

General  Sternberg  was  naturally  very  anxious  about  the 
health  of  the  troops  and  was  greatly  perturbed  at  the  dis- 
appointing results  of  his  efforts  to  secure  efficient  camp  sani- 
tation. No  one  realized  more  than  he,  that  typhoid  fever  and 
other  camp  diseases  are  to  a  great  extent  preventable,  and 
hence  that  much  of  the  sickness  and  suffering  of  our  troops 
was  cruelly  unnecessary.  In  order  to  preserve  and  to  transmit 
to  contemporaries  and  to  posterity  the  knowledge  purchased  at 
so  vast  an  expense,  he  prepared  and  delivered  the  following 
address,  which  was  read  before  the  Section  on  State  Medicine,, 
at  the  fiftieth  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation held  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  June  6-9,  1899 : 

As  compared  with  the  Civil  War  and  with  other  great  wars 
during  the  present  century,  the  mortality  from  wounds  and 
disease  among  our  troops  during  the  war  with  Spain  has  been 
low.  Our  wounded  have  had,  to  a  large  extent,  the  advantage 
of  prompt  treatment  with  antiseptic  dressings  and  a  very 
considerable  portion  of  those  who  were  not  killed  outright 
have  recovered  without  any  mutilating  operation  or  septic  com- 
plication. The  mortality  from  disease  has  also  been  compara- 
tively low,  but  unfortunately  during  the  first  months  of  the 
war,  that  scourge  of  new  levies  of  new  troops — typhoid  fever 
— prevailed  in  many  of  our  camps  and  claimed  numerous  vic- 
tims. It  is  well  known  to  sanitarians  and  military  surgeons 
that  as  a  general  rule  more  soldiers  succumb  to  disease  than 
are  killed  by  the  bullets  of  the  enemy,  and  our  recent  war  has 
not  been  an  exception  in  this  regard.  The  total  number  of 
deaths  reported  in  our  enlarged  army,  including  regulars  and 
volunteers,  from  May  1,  1898,  to  April  30,  1899,  is  6,406.  Of 
these,  5,438  died  of  disease  and  968  were  killed  in  battle  or 
died  of  wounds,  injuries  or  accident.  During  the  Civil  War 
the  number  of  deaths  from  disease  was  186,216. 1  The  num- 
ber who  were  killed  in  battle  or  died  of  wounds  was  93,969, 
or  about  one-half  of  the  deaths  from  disease.  The  total  deaths 
from  disease  in  the  Union  armies  from  the  commencement  of 
the  war  to  December  31,  1862,  was  34,326,  and  in  the  Con- 
federate armies  during  the  same  period,  31,238. 

1  In  addition  to  this  24,184  deaths  are  recorded  as  from  unknown 
causes,  and  probably  most  of  these  deaths  were  from  disease. 


186 


GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 


The  accompanying  table  gives  the  monthly  death-rates  from 
disease  in  our  armies  from  May  1,  1898,  to  April  30,  1899,  and, 
for  comparison,  the  rates  for  the  same  period  in  the  first  twelve 
months  of  the  Civil  War. 

In  comparing  the  death-rates  from  disease  during  the  year 
of  the  Spanish- American  War,  May  1,  1898,  to  April  30, 
1899,  and  the  first  year  of  the  Civil  War,  May  1,  1861,  to  April 
30,  1862,  note  should  be  taken  in  the  first  place  that  the  mean 
strength  in  May,  1861,  was  only  16,161,  as  compared  with 
163,592  men  in  service  in  May,  1898.  The  mustering  in  of 
volunteer  troops  was  slower  in  1861  than  during  the  recent 
war,  so  that  it  was  not  until  September  and  October,  1861,  that 
the  mean  strength  assumed  proportions  equal  to  that  of  corres- 
ponding months  of  the  Spanish  War.  Although  the  number 
present  in  the  camps  of  1861-1862  after  October,  1861,  was 
largely  in  excess  of  those  aggregated  during  the  past  year,  the 

COMPARISON    OP    MONTHLY    DEATH    RATES    (PER    1,000)     FROM    DISEASE 


1861-1862 

1898-1899 

Months 

Mean 
Strength 

Number 

of 
Deaths 

Ratio 
per  1,000 
of  M.S. 

Ratio 
per  1,000 
of  M.  S. 

Number 

of 
Deaths 

Mean 
Strength 

16,161 
66,950 
71,125 
112,359 
165,126 
256,884 
301,848 
343,184 
352,760 
327,734 
328,878 
410,416 
229,452 

18 

55 

106 

242 

365 

725 

1,145 

1,471 

1,593 

1,346 

1,575 

1,881 

10,522 

1.11 
0.82 
1.49 
2.15 
2.21 
2.82 
3.79 
4.29 
4.52 
4.11 
4.79 
4.58 
45.86 

0.25 
0.43 
1.70 
5.13 
5.74 
3.58 
2.03 
1.19 
1.15 
1.20 
1.08 
0.85 
27.13 

42 

90 

451 

1,400 

1,541 

809 

365 

201 

180 

156 

123 

80 

5,438 

163,592 

208,237 

July 

265,529 

272,618 

September 

268,181 
225,375 

179,186 
168,937 

155,792 

129,753 

April 

113,793 

93,365 

200,385 

average  annual  strength  during  both  wars  did  not  differ 
greatly.  Nevertheless,  the  deaths  from  disease  in  1861-62 
numbered  10,522,  while  in  1898-99  they  amounted  only  to 
5,438.  The  death-rate  per  thousand  of  strength  mounted 
gradually  month  by  month  in  1861-1862,  and  indeed  it  did  not 
reach  its  acme  until  February,  1863,  when  the  rate  of  6.39 
was  reached.  In  1898,  on  the  other  hand,  the  acme,  5.74,  was 
reached  suddenly  in  September,  but  owing  to  the  sanitary 
measures  adopted,  the  fall  during  October  and  November  was 
as  rapid  as  had  been  the  rise. 

The  same  gradual  rise  is  seen  in  the  mortality  statistics  of 
typhoid  fever  during  the  Civil  War.  The  highest  death-rate, 
2.81,  was  not  reached  until  May,  1862,  the  thirteenth  month 
of  the  aggregation  of  the  troops,  when  1,092  men  died  of  this 
disease,  and  the  fall  of  the  rates  was  as  gradual  as  the  rise. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  rise  in  1898  was  sudden,  the  maximum 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  187 

rate,  3.57,  being  reached  in  September,  when  933  men  died 
of  the  disease;  but  the  fall  during  the  months  of  October  and 
November  was  as  notable  as  the  rise.  This  sudden  suppres- 
sion of  the  disease  can  not  be  attributed  to  an  exhaustion  of 
the  susceptibility  of  the  troops  to  attack  from  this  fever,  as 
they  only  suffered  at  the  rate  of  12.37  per  thousand  of  strength 
during  the  twelve  months,  whereas  the  troops  of  the  Civil  War 
suffered  at  the  rate  of  19.71  per  thousand.  It  can  be  attributed 
only  to  the  active  preventive  measures  that  were  instituted,  and 
especially  to  moving  the  troops  to  fresh  camp  sites  and  the 
greater  care  exercised  in  the  disposal  of  excreta. 

TYPHOID    FEVER 

The  notable  rise  in  the  general  death-rate  from  disease,  and 
in  that  from  typhoid  fever  alone,  which  occurred  in  August 
and  September,  was  undoubtedly  due  to  the  insanitary  con- 
ditions resulting  from  the  hasty  assembling  of  large  bodies  of 
undisciplined  troops  in  our  camps  of  instruction. 

The  average  annual  mortality  from  typhoid  fever  in  our 
regular  army  since  the  Civil  War  has  been :  for  the  first  decade 
(1868-1877),  95  per  100,000  of  mean  strength  (.95  per  1000) ; 
for  the  second  decade  (1878-1887),  108  per  100,000;  for  the 
third  decade  (1888-1897),  55  per  100,000.  This  latter  rate 
compares  favorably  with  that  of  many  of  our  principal  cities. 
For  example,  it  is  exceeded  by  the  typhoid  death-rate  in  the 
city  of  Washington,  which  is  78.1  per  100,000  (average  of  10 
years — 1888-1897)  ;  by  that  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  which  is 
64.4  per  100,000;  by  that  of  Pittsburgh,  which  is  88  per 
100,000.  These  figures,  however,  do  not  show  the  entire  mor- 
tality in  the  cities  mentioned  as  a  result  of  typhoid  fever,  for 
without  doubt  many  of  the  deaths  ascribed  to  "malarial  fevers" 
were  in  fact  due  to  typhoid  infection.  Thus  in  the  city  of 
Washington  the  deaths  reported  from  typhoid  and  typho- 
malarial  fever  (average  of  10  years)  numbered  78.1  per 
100,000  of  the  population,  while  25.4  per  100,000  are  recorded 
as  due  to  malarial  fever.  In  Baltimore  the  mortality  as 
recorded  from  typhoid  fever  is  41.5,  and  from  "typho-malarial 
and  other  malarial  fevers"  18.3  per  100,000.  In  St.  Louis  the 
figures  are:  typhoid  fever,  35.7,  typho-malarial  and  other 
malarial  fevers,  49  per  100,000 ;  in  New  Orleans  typhoid  fever 
26.1  typho-malarial  and  other  malarial  fevers,  107.2  per 
100,000. 

It  will  be  seen  that  sanitary  conditions  at  our  military  posts 
in  time  of  peace,  as  judged  by  the  typhoid  death-rate,  compare 
favorably  with  those  in  our  large  cities  in  various  parts  of  the 
country.  As  a  matter  of  fact  great  attention  has  been  given 
to  post  sanitation  for  many  years  past,  and  through  the  per- 


188  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

sistent  efforts  of  officers  of  the  medical  department  great 
improvements  have  been  made,  especially  during  the  past  ten 
years.  The  result  is  shown  in  a  reduction  of  the  typhoid  mor- 
tality from  108  per  100,000  in  the  ten  years  ending  in  1887,  to 
55  per  100,000  in  the  decade  ending  in  1897.  Hygiene  is  made 
one  of  the  principal  subjects  of  examination  for  candidates 
desiring  appointment  in  the  medical  corps  of  the  army,  and  at 
subsequent  examinations  for  promotion  to  the  grade  of  captain 
and  major,  is  given  a  most  prominent  place.  It  is  also  the 
most  prominent  subject  in  the  course  of  instruction  at  the 
Army  Medical  School,  where  the  student-officers  spend  five 
hours  daily  for  a  period  of  five  months  in  practical  laboratory 
work  relating  for  the  most  part  to  the  cause  and  prevention 
of  infectious  diseases.  It  should  be  remembered,  however, 
that  the  Army  Medical  School  was  not  established  until  1892, 
and  consequently  but  a  small  portion  of  the  medical  officers  of 
the  army  have  had  the  advantage  of  this  course  of  instruction. 

The  comparatively  small  number  of  medical  officers  of  the 
regular  army  available  for  duty  in  the  large  camps  occupied 
by  our  volunteer  troops  at  the  outset  of  the  war  proved  to  be 
entirely  inadequate  to  control  the  sanitary  situation  in  these 
camps,  and  as  a  result  of  the  conditions  existing,  the  mortality 
from  typhoid  fever  in  our  armies  during  the  year  ending 
April  30,  1899,  has  been  more  than  twenty-two  times  the 
annual  mortality  in  our  regular  army  during  the  decade 
immediately  preceding  the  war  period.  As  compared  with  the 
first  year  of  the  Civil  War,  however,  there  is  a  decided 
improvement,  the  typhoid  mortality  for  the  first  year  of  the 
Civil  War  having  been  1971  per  100,000  of  mean  strength,  and 
for  the  Spanish-American  War,  1237  per  100,000.  Moreover, 
as  shown  by  the  chart,  the  vigorous  sanitary  measures 
enforced  enabled  our  troops  to  quickly  free  themselves  from 
the  ravages  of  this  infectious  disease,  and  while  the  line  of 
typhoid  mortality  continued  to  ascend  during  the  first  year 
of  the  Civil  War  and  subsequently,  it  rapidly  fell  after  the 
middle  of  September  last  and  for  the  last  six  months  of  the 
period  under  consideration  has  been  remarkably  low.  Indeed, 
in  the  history  of  large  armies  the  record  has  never  heretofore 
been  equaled. 

In  view  of  the  great  progress  which  has  been  made  since 
the  Civil  War  in  our  knowledge  of  the  etiology  and  preven- 
tion of  those  infectious  diseases,  which  have  in  the  past  been 
most  fatal  to  armies,  the  writer  had  hoped  that  the  mortality 
from  preventable  diseases  might  be  greatly  reduced  from  the 
outset,  notwithstanding  the  difficulties  inseparably  connected 
with  the  hasty  assembling  of  large  bodies  of  undisciplined 
troops  in  our  camps  of  instruction. 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  189 

As  we  now  know  the  cause  of  typhoid  fever,  the  biologic 
characters  of  the  typhoid  bacillus,  and  the  physical  and 
chemic  agents  by  which  this  bacillus  may  be  destroyed,  sani- 
tarians have  no  difficulty  in  formulating  rules  relating  to  its 
prevention,  which  if  strictly  followed,  would,  to  a  great  extent 
at  least,  protect  our  armies  from  its  ravages. 

In  the  writer's  prize  essay  on  "Disinfection  and  Personal 
Prophylaxis  in  Infectious  Diseases,"  published  by  the  Ameri- 
can Public  Health  Association  in  1885,  the  following  direc- 
tions will  be  found: 

"In  the  sick-room  we  have  disease  germs  at  an  advantage, 
for  we  know  where  to  find  them,  as  well  as  how  to  kill  them. 
Having  this  knowledge,  not  to  apply  it  would  be  criminal 
negligence,  for  our  efforts  to  restrict  the  extension  of  infec- 
tious diseases  must  depend  largely  upon  the  proper  use  of  dis- 
infectants in  the  sick-room. 

Disinfection  of  excreta,  etc. — The  dejections  of  patients 
suffering  from  an  infectious  disease  should  be  disinfected 
before  they  are  thrown  into  a  water-closet  or  privy  vault. 
This  is  especially  important  in  cholera,  typhoid  fever,  yellow 
fever  and  other  diseases  in  which  there  is  evidence  that  the 
infectious  agent  is  capable  of  self-multiplication,  in  suitable 
pabulum,  external  to  the  human  body.  Vomited  matters  and 
the  sputa,  in  these  and  other  infectious  diseases,  should  also  be 
promptly  disinfected.  This  is  especially  important  in  cholera, 
diphtheria,  scarlet  fever,  whooping  cough  and  tuberculosis.  It 
seems  advisable,  also,  to  treat  the  urine  of  patients  sick  with 
an  infectious  disease  with  a  disinfecting  solution. 

For  the  disinfection  of  excreta  in  the  sick-room,  a  solution 
of  chlorid  of  lime  is  to  be  recommended.  This  is  an  excellent 
and  prompt  deodorant,  as  well  as  a  disinfectant.  A  quart  of 
the  standard  solution  (No.  2),  recommended  by  the  committee 
on  disinfectants  of  the  American  Public  Health  Association, 
will  suffice  for  an  ordinary  liquid  discharge  in  cholera  or 
typhoid  fever;  but  for  a  copious  discharge  it  will  be  prudent 
to  use  twice  this  quantity,  and  for  solid  fecal  matter  a  stronger 
solution  will  be  required.  As  chlorid  of  lime  is  quite  cheap,  it 
will  be  best  to  keep  on  the  safe  side,  and  to  make  the  solution 
for  the  disinfection  of  excreta  by  dissolving  eight  ounces  of 
chlorid  of  lime  in  a  gallon  of  water.  This  solution  should  be 
placed  in  the  vessel  before  it  receives  the  discharge.  The 
material  to  be  disinfected  should  be  well  mixed  with  the  dis- 
infecting solution  by  agitating  the  vessel,  and  from  thirty 
minutes  to  an  hour  should  be  allowed  for  the  action  of  the  dis- 
infectant before  the  contents  are  thrown  into  a  water-closet  or 
privy  vault." 


190  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

In  the  manual  for  the  medical  department,  which  at  the  out- 
set of  the  war  was  distributed  for  the  information  of  all  medi- 
cal officers,  the  following  directions  will  be  found : 

"91.  a. — Disinfectants  are  issued,  as  are  medicines,  to  be 
used  by  medical  officers  when  actually  required  for  some 
specific  purpose.  Chlorid  of  lime,  carbolic  acid  and  mercuric 
chlorid  are  issued  by  the  medical  department  for  use  as  dis- 
infectants, properly  so-called.  A  solution  containing  4  per 
cent,  of  good  chlorid  of  lime  or  5  per  cent,  of  carbolic  acid  is 
suitable  for  disinfecting  the  excreta  of  patients  with  cholera 
or  typhoid  fever,  or  the  sputa  of  patients  suffering  from  diph- 
theria, scarlet  fever  or  tuberculosis.  The  floors,  furniture, 
etc.,  in  rooms  occupied  by  patients  suffering  from  an  infectious 
disease,  may  be  washed  with  a  2  per  cent,  solution  of  carbolic 
acid,  or  with  mercuric  chlorid  of  1-1000.  Soiled  bed-linen, 
underclothing,  etc.,  used  by  such  patients,  should  be  immersed 
in  one  of  the  above-mentioned  solutions  before  it  is  sent  to 
the  laundry. 

92.  When  accumulations  of  organic  material  undergoing 
decomposition  can  not  be  removed  or  buried  they  may  be 
treated  with  an  antiseptic  solution  or  with  freshly-burned 
quicklime.  Quicklime  is  also  a  valuable  disinfectant,  and  may 
be  substituted  for  the  more  expensive  chlorid  of  lime  for  dis- 
infection of  typhoid  and  cholera  excreta,  etc.  For  this  purpose 
freshly-prepared  milk  of  lime  should  be  used,  containing  about 
one  part,  by  weight,  of  hydrate  of  lime  to  eight  of  water. 

93.  During  the  prevalence  of  an  epidemic,  or  when  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  infectious  material  has  been  intro- 
duced from  any  source,  latrines  and  cesspools  may  be  treated 
with  milk  of  lime  in  the  proportion  of  5  parts  to  100  parts  of 
the  contents  of  vault,  and  the  daily  addition  of  10  parts  for 
100  parts  of  daily  increment  of  feces." 

At  the  outset  of  the  war  with  Spain  sanitary  circular  No.  1 
was  issued.     [See  page  161.] 

Early  in  August  the  attention  of  medical  officers  was  again 
directed  to  the  importance  of  camp  sanitation  and  disinfection 
of  the  excreta  of  "patients  with  fever,"  by  Circular  No.  5. 

"War    Department:    Surgeon-General's    Office, 
Circular   No.    5.  Washington,  Aug.  8,  1898. 

The  attention  of  medical  officers  is  invited  to  Circular  No. 
1  from  this  office,  dated  Washington,  April  25,  1898. 

The  extensive  prevalence  of  typhoid  fever  in  camps  of 
instruction  indicates  that  the  sanitary  recommendations  made 
in  this  circular  have  not  been  carried  out.     If  medical  officers 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  191 

have  failed  to  make  the  proper  recommendations  as  indicated, 
the  responsibility  rests  with  them.  If  the  recommendations 
have  been  made  and  not  acted  upon  by  those  having  authority 
in  the  various  camps,  the  responsibility  is  not  with  the  medical 
department,  but  these  recommendations  should  be  repeated, 
and  commanding  officers  urged  to  move  their  camps  at  fre- 
quent intervals  and  to  maintain  a  strict  sanitary  police. 

Geo.  M.  Sternberg, 
Surgeon-General,  U.  S.  A." 

IMPORTANT     SANITARY     RECOMMENDATIONS 

The  following  letter  was  addressed  to  the  adjutant-general 
of  the  Army  on  October  31. 

"Adjutant-General  of  the  Army,  Sir: — I  have  the  honor  to 
make  the  following  recommendations  with  reference  to  the 
protection  of  our  troops  in  permanent  camps  in  this  country 
and  in  the  islands  at  present  occupied  by  our  forces,  from  the 
infectious  diseases  which  are  liable  to  prevail  where  insanitary 
conditions  exist: 

1.  No  camp  should  be  established  unless  there  is  an  abun- 
dant supply  of  pure  water  for  drinking,  bathing  and  culinary 
purposes.  Experience  shows  that  reliance  upon  filtration,  or 
upon  sterilization  by  boiling,  is  very  uncertain,  owing  to  the 
difficulty  of  enforcing  the  use  of  the  appliances  provided  for 
this  purpose.  Nevertheless,  I  recommend  that  portable  filters 
of  an  approved  model  be  supplied  to  troops  in  camp,  for  use 
when  on  the  march  or  under  any  circumstances  where  it 
becomes  necessary  to  use  water  which  may  possibly  be  con- 
taminated by  the  germs  of  any  one  of  the  infectious  diseases 
which  experience  has  shown  to  be  most  dangerous  to  troops 
in  the  field — typhoid  fever,  cholera,  dysentery,  camp  diarrhea, 
yellow  fever.  Company  commanders  should  be  made  respon- 
sible for  the  proper  use  of  these  filters,  and,  as  they  require 
frequent  cleaning  and  careful  using  in  order  to  preserve  their 
efficiency,  they  should  be  placed  in  the  immediate  care  of  a 
reliable  and  properly  instructed  non-commissioned  officer,  who 
should  have  a  suitable  detail  to  assist  him  in  operating  them 
for  the  filtration  of  all  water  used  for  drinking  purposes. 

2.  Disposal  of  excreta.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  the 
germs  of  typhoid  fever,  cholera,  dysentery  and  camp  diarrhea 
are  present  in  the  discharges  of  those  suffering  from  these 
diseases  and  the  propagation  of  these  infectious  camp  diseases 
results,  to  a  large  extent,  from  failure  to  properly  dispose  of 
excreta.  These  diseases  are  frequently  not  recognized  in  the 
earlier  stages  or  when  the  cases  are  mild  in  character,  and  the 
discharges  of  such  persons  thrown  upon  the  ground  or  in  sinks 
which  are  not  properly  disinfected  almost  inevitably  lead  to 


192  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

a  propagation  of  the  disease  and  often  to  a  general  camp  infec- 
tion. This  can  only  be  guarded  against  by  a  complete  system 
of  sewers  and  water-closets  connected  with  them,  by  some 
efficient  method  of  removing  excreta  from  the  camp,  or  by  its 
prompt  and  complete  disinfection  in  situ  if  sinks  are  used. 
Kxperience  shows  that  the  latter  method  is  difficult  to  carry  out 
and  requires  the  most  constant  and  intelligent  supervision.  The 
first  cost  of  a  complete  system  of  sewers  for  a  camp  which  is 
to  be  occupied  for  several  months  would  be  small  compared 
with  the  expense  resulting  from  an  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever, 
yellow  fever  or  cholera.  It  may  be  safely  said  that  the  expense 
resulting  from  the  large  number  of  cases  of  typhoid  fever  in 
our  camps  during  the  past  summer  has  been  greatly  in  excess 
of  the  cost  of  a  system  of  sewers,  where  this  would  have  been 
practicable,  or  of  some  other  efficient  method  of  disposing  of 
excreta.  As  the  best  alternative  where  a  camp  is  not  to  be 
occupied  long  enough  to  justify  the  establishment  of  a  complete 
system  of  sewers,  or  where  for  any  reason  this  is  impracticable, 
I  would  suggest  the  following  method  of  disposing  of  excreta: 
I  would  provide  a  sufficient  number  of  cylindric  galvanized 
iron  receptacles,  eighteen  inches  in  diameter  and  eighteen 
inches  deep,  provided  with  a  galvanized  iron  cover  and  having 
a  trough  around  the  outside  of  the  vessel,  three  inches  deep, 
for  the  purpose  of  containing  a  disinfecting  fluid,  in  order 
that  when  the  cover  is  in  position  this  may  serve  as  a  valve 
preventing  the  entrance  of  flies  or  the  escape  of  foul  odors.  A 
second  cover  of  metal,  having  a  proper  aperture  to  serve  as  a 
privy  seat,  should  be  provided.  When  about  to  be  used  the 
closet  cover  would  be  removed  from  the  iron  receptacle,  leav- 
ing the  seat  exposed.  After  use  the  cover  should  at  once  be 
replaced.  These  cylindric  vessels  could  be  partly  filled  with  a 
solution  of  carbolic  acid,  or  the  contents  could  be  treated  with 
quicklime,  dry  earth  or  ashes.  They  should  be  removed  at 
regular  intervals  and  the  contents  emptied  into  a  pit  far 
removed  from  the  camp,  or  disposed  of  by  cremation.  There 
should  be  a  sufficient  number  of  these  vessels  to  put  a  clean 
one  in  position  when  those  requiring  removal  are  taken  away 
to  be  emptied  and  cleaned.  These  vessels  should  be  cleaned  by 
the  use  of  boiling  water  (or  by  incineration  if  practicable). 
(Signed)  Geo.  M.  Sternberg, 

Surgeon-General  U.  S.  A." 

REASONS     FOR     PREVALENCE    OF    TYPHOID 

We  have  now  to  inquire  why,  with  our  precise  knowledge 
as  to  the  etiology  and  means  of  prevention  of  typhoid  fever, 
this  infectious  disease  prevailed  to  such  an  extent  in  many  of 
our  camps  during  the  first  four  or  five  months  of  the  late  war. 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  193 

The  reasons  are  apparent,  and  even  in  the  light  of  our  recent 
experience  I  am  not  sure  that  under  similar  conditions  we 
could  avoid  similar  results.  Sanitarians  generally  are  familiar 
with  the  difficulties  attending  their  efforts  to  restrict  the  rav- 
ages of  infectious  diseases  in  towns  and  cities.  They  have  to 
contend  with  the  ignorance  and  reckless  indifference  of  a  large 
proportion  of  the  population,  with  the  ignorance  and  mistaken 
parsimony  of  legislative  bodies,  and  to  some  extent  with  the 
negligence  or  perfunctory  performance  of  duties  assigned  to 
them  by  agents  of  the  health  department,  often  appointed  as 
a  reward  for  political  services  rather  than  on  account  of  their 
special  fitness  for  the  work.  Perhaps  it  was  too  much  to  expect 
that  typhoid  fever  should  be  excluded  from  our  camps,  unpro- 
vided with  sewers  and  occupied  by  new  levies  of  troops,  hav- 
ing for  the  most  part  inexperienced  officers  both  of  the  line  and 
in  the  staff  departments.  The  medical  officers  of  regiments 
were  appointed  by  the  governors  of  States,  and  as  a  rule  were 
competent  professionally,  but  they  were  called  upon  to  assume 
new  responsibilities  for  which  they  had  no  special  training. 
Unfortunately,  hygiene  and  practical  sanitation  are  subjects 
which  receive  little  attention  in  our  medical  schools  or  from 
physicians  and  surgeons  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine. 
But  even  in  those  cases  in  which  the  regimental  surgeon  was 
fully  aware  of  the  importance  of  camp  sanitation  and  urgent 
in  his  sanitary  recommendations,  he  was  unable  to  control  the 
sanitary  situation  unless  the  regimental  and  company  officers 
enforced  the  necessary  measures  for  protecting  the  health  of 
the  command.  And  just  here  is  the  fundamental  difficulty 
when  we  are  dealing  with  new  levies  of  troops.  The  officers 
and  enlisted  men  of  our  volunteer  regiments  were  as  a  rule 
intelligent,  patriotic  and  brave,  but  they  were  not  disciplined. 
Each  man  was  in  the  habit  of  judging  for  himself  and  of  act- 
ing in  accordance  with  his  individual  judgment.  Discipline 
consists  essentially  in  an  unquestioning  obedience  of  orders 
from  those  having  proper  authority  to  give  them.  Trained 
officers  can  not  at  once  establish  discipline  among  untrained 
troops,  and  when  both  officers  and  enlisted  men  are  without 
military  experience  it  is  evident  that,  with  the  best  material, 
time  will  be  required  for  the  establishment  of  discipline.  And 
in  the  absence  of  discipline  it  is  impracticable  to  enforce  proper 
sanitary  regulations  in  camp.  The  Surgeon-General  may 
formulate  sanitary  regulations,  and  the  general  commanding 
an  army  corps  or  a  division  may  issue  the  necessary  orders, 
but  in  the  absence  of  discipline  these  orders  will  not  be 
enforced.  A  reckless  recruit  will  drink  the  water  which  has 
been  condemned  as  unsafe,  and  at  night  will  defile  the  ground 
in  the  vicinity  of  his  tent  rather  than  visit  the  company  sink, 


194  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

which,  possibly  is  in  a  disgusting  and  unsanitary  condition 
because  of  a  failure  to  carry  out  the  orders  to  cover  the  sur- 
face of  excreta  "with  fresh  earth,  or  quicklime,  or  ashes,  three 
times  a  day." 

The  difficulty  in  controlling  the  sanitary  situation,  even  when 
under  the  supervision  of  an  experienced  medical  officer  of  the 
regular  army,  is  illustrated  by  the  following  extract  from  a 
personal  letter  to  the  surgeon-general,  referring  to  one  of  the 
camps  occupied  by  volunteers  who  had  returned  from  Cuba 
to  be  mustered  out  of  service.  Colonel  Greenleaf  says:  "I 
have  never  had  a  more  trying  time  than  during  the  past  two 
weeks  in  efforts  to  keep  the  camps  reasonably  clean.  The 
approach  of  the  muster-out  period  made  officers  and  men 
equally  indifferent  to  ordinary  cleanliness,  and  without  the 
cooperation  of  the  quartermaster  their  camp  would  have  been 
quickly  untenable.  We  have  had  to  hire  civilians  to  clean  the 
latrines,  remove  their  contents  and  the  garbage,  clear  the  camp 
streets,  and  finally  to  stay  on  duty  at  the  latrines  and  cover 
excrement  as  it  was  deposited !  Orders,  written  and  verbal, 
requiring  the  soldiers  to  do  anything  in  the  way  of  police  were 
repeatedly  issued  but  were  totally  disregarded,  and  the  sinks 
and  kitchens  were  soon  infected  with  such  swarms  of  flies  that 
I  felt  sure  there  must  be  an  outbreak  of  disease." 

New  levies  of  troops  are  especially  subject  to  typhoid  fever 
and  other  infectious  camp  diseases,  not  only  because  of  a  lack 
of  discipline  and  consequent  difficulty  in  the  enforcement  of 
necessary  sanitary  regulations,  but  also  because  the  individual 
soldiers  are  very  susceptible  to  infection,  owing  to  their  age, 
the  abrupt  change  in  their  mode  of  life,  the  exposure  and 
fatigue  incident  to  camp  life,  and  last  but  not  least,  their  own 
imprudence  as  regards  eating,  drinking,  exercise,  etc.  The 
trained  soldier  has  not  only  learned  the  lesson  of  obedience 
to  orders,  but  has  learned  how  to  take  care  of  himself  in  the 
field.  He  will  carry  a  canteen  of  boiled  water  or  tea  rather 
than  trust  to  luck  and  drink  any  water  at  hand  when  he  is 
thirsty.  He  has  learned  to  control  his  appetite  within  moderate 
limits,  and  when  issued  rations  for  five  days  does  not  suffer 
from  hunger  on  the  fourth  and  fifth  as  a  result  of  extravagant 
consumption  or  waste  on  the  first  and  second  days  of  the 
period  for  which  he  has  been  rationed.  He  takes  advantage 
of  opportunities  for  bathing,  and  washing  his  underclothing; 
and  when  his  blankets  or  outer  clothing  are  unavoidably  wet  he 
hastens  to  dry  them  in  the  sun  or  by  a  fire  at  the  earliest 
opportunity. 

The  value  of  experience  and  special  training  is  recognized 
by  all  departments  of  human  activity,  and  the  military  calling 
furnishes  no  exception  to  the  general  rule.     This  applies  to 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  195 

the  staff  as  well  as  to  the  line,  and  the  medical  staff  is  no 
exception.  When,  therefore,  I  say  that  the  evils  resulting 
from  neglect  of  camp  sanitation  during  the  earlier  months  of 
the  war  were  to  some  extent  due  to  the  inexperience  of  the 
regimental  surgeons,  I  am  not  reflecting  upon  the  professional 
qualifications  of  these  gentlement,  but  am  simply  stating  a  fact. 
I  desire  to  say,  at  this  point,  that  many  of  these  regimental 
surgeons  showed  a  decided  aptitude  for  the  service,  and  made 
themselves  familiar  with  their  various  duties  as  medical  officers 
within  a  comparatively  short  time.  As  a  rule  they  have  been 
assiduous  in  the  care  of  the  sick,  and  professionally  they  have 
been  fully  the  equals  of  the  average  doctor  in  the  sections  of 
the  country  in  which  their  regiments  were  raised.  Indeed,  in 
many  instances  they  have  been  men  who  had  attained  distinc- 
tion in  their  own  State  or  even  a  national  reputation. 

There  has  been  no  failure  on  the  part  of  the  medical  depart- 
ment of  the  volunteer  army  to  accomplish  all  that  could  have 
been  reasonably  expected  of  it,  but  without  doubt  an  adequate 
number  of  thoroughly  trained  medical  officers  could  have  done 
much  at  the  outset  of  the  war  in  the  way  of  preventing  the 
introduction  and  extension  of  typhoid  fever  in  our  camps,  and 
in  organizing  and  administering  field  hospitals,  ambulance 
companies,  etc. 

Want  of  discipline  and  inexperience  on  the  part  of  officers 
and  enlisted  men,  together  with  the  apparent  emergency  which 
caused  them  to  be  brought  together  in  large  camps  in  great 
haste  and  before  proper  preparation  could  be  made  for  their 
reception  and  the  supply  of  their  many  wants,  were  the  fun- 
damental, and  to  a  large  extent  unavoidable,  causes  of  the 
extension  of  typhoid  fever  in  our  camps.  But  the  first  step 
in  the  development  of  an  epidemic  of  an  infectious  disease  is 
the  introduction  of  the  specific  germ  to  which  it  is  due. 
Unfortunately,  typhoid  fever  is  endemic  in  nearly  all  parts  of 
the  United  States,  and  when  a  thousand  men  are  brought 
together  from  any  section,  there  is  a  fair  chance  that  one  or 
more  of  them  are  already  infected  with  this  disease.  Unless 
these  cases  are  recognized  at  the  very  outset  the  camp  site  is 
liable  to  be  contaminated  by  typhoid  excreta,  and  the  bacilli, 
through  the  agency  of  flies  or  in  a  desiccated  condition  carried 
by  the  wind,  effect  a  lodgment  on  food  being  prepared  in  the 
company  kitchens,  and  thus  find  their  way  to  the  alimentary 
tracts  of  susceptible  individuals. 

The  attention  of  the  profession  has  been  largely  attracted  to 
the  propagation  of  this  disease  through  contamination  of  the 
water-supply,  and  to  the  distribution  of  the  typhoid  bacilli  by 
the  milkman,  and  there  has  perhaps  been  a  tendency  to  over- 
look other  modes  of  infection,  which,  in  the  absence  of  sewers 


196  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

and  under  conditions  such  as  existed  in  our  camps  during  the 
first  months  of  the  war  with  Spain,  were  even  more  important. 
It  is  evident  that  one  or  two  unrecognized  cases  might  be  suffi- 
cient to  inaugurate  an  epidemic  in  a  regimental  camp,  and  as 
a  matter  of  fact  the  disease  has  prevailed  in  nearly  every  camp 
in  the  country  which  has  been  occupied  for  a  period  of  a  month 
or  more.  In  many  cases  it  was  brought  to  our  large  camps 
from  the  State  camps  where  the  regiments  were  mustered  into 
service. 

TYPHOID     FEVER     BOARD 

And  now,  in  order  that  the  "sanitary  lessons  of  the  war" 
may  not  be  lost  sight  of,  and  may  be  made  available  hereafter 
if  we  should  again  have  occasion  to  assemble  a  large  army 
on  short  notice,  I  consider  it  my  duty  to  speak  plainly  with 
reference  to  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  epidemic  preva- 
lence of  typhoid  fever  in  our  camps.  As  a  rule  this  disease 
was  called  by  some  other  name  by  the  medical  officers,  on  duty 
with  regiments,  who  first  saw  the  cases.  Usually  it  was 
assumed  to  be  malarial  fever,  and  was  treated  as  such  until  the 
patient  became  so  sick  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  send  him 
to  the  division  field  hospital  or  to  a  general  hospital.  This  gen- 
eral statement  is  based  upon  the  carefully  made  investigations 
of  a  board  of  medical  officers  appointed  on  my  recommen- 
dation, made  in  the  following  letter : 

"Surgeon-General's  Office, 

Washington,  Aug.  17,  1898. 
To  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  Army: 

Sir: — I  have  the  honor  to  request  that  a  board  of  sanitary 
experts  may  be  constituted  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  the 
various  camps  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  and  mak- 
ing a  searching  investigation  with  reference  to  the  cause  of  the 
extensive  prevalence  of  typhoid  fever  in  many  of  these  camps. 
The  board  to  receive  detailed  instructions  from  the  surgeon- 
general  of  the  army,  and  to  make  a  full  report  as  soon  as  prac- 
ticable after  the  completion  of  their  investigation. 

I  would  also  recommend  that  this  board  be  directed,  while 
pursuing  their  investigations,  to  call  the  attention  of  the  proper 
authorities  to  any  insanitary  conditions  existing  at  the  camps 
visited  by  them,  and  to  make  recommendations  with  a  view  to 
their  prompt  correction.  I  recommend  the  detail  of  the  follow- 
ing medical  officers  for  this  duty :  Major  Walter  Reed,  Sur- 
geon U.  S.  A.,  Major  Victor  C.  Vaughan,  Division  Surgeon 
U.  S.  V.,  Major  Edward  O.  Shakespeare,  Brigade  Surgeon 
U.  S.  V. 

(Signed)  Geo.  M.  Sternberg, 

Surgeon-General  U.  S.  A." 


SPANISH-AMERICAN     WAR  197 

In  a  paper  read  by  Major  Victor  C.  Vaughan,  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Association  of  American  Physicians  held  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  early  in  May,  which  paper  may  be  regarded  as 
a  preliminary  report  of  the  board,  the  following  statements  are 
made : 

"We  had  not  finished  our  first  day's  work  at  Camp  Alger 
before  we  saw  that  one  factor  in  the  problem  must  be  thor- 
oughly dealt  with  before  we  could  hope  to  reach  a  satisfactory 
solution.  Fortunately,  we  promptly  took  steps  to  acquaint  our- 
selves with  this  factor.  It  can  not  be  denied  that  scientific 
medicine  would  have  gained  much  had  this  factor  been  pro- 
vided for  at  an  earlier  date.  I  refer  to  the  question  of  scien- 
tific diagnosis  of  typhoid  fever.  In  the  division  hospital  at 
Camp  Alger  we  found  most  of  the  febrile  cases  diagnosed  as 
malarial.  We  believe  that  they  were  typhoid  fever,  but  the 
surgeon  in  charge  had  diagnosed  them  malaria.  We  requested 
that  competent  men  properly  equipped  for  making  blood  ex- 
aminations for  the  malarial  plasmodium  and  the  Widal  test, 
should  be  sent  to  each  of  the  larger  camps.  The  surgeon- 
general  acted  promptly  on  this  suggestion.  Drs.  Gray  and  Car- 
roll, of  the  Army  Medical  Museum,  went  to  Camp  Alger  for 
this  purpose.  Subsequently  Dr.  Carroll  continued  this  work 
at  Jacksonville.  Dr.  Dock,  of  the  University  of  Michigan, 
made  investigations  at  Chickamauga,  Knoxville  and  Meade. 
Acting  Asst.-Surg.  Craig  also  spent  several  weeks  in  making 
blood  examinations  at  Sternberg  Hospital,  Chickamauga  Park. 
Dr.  Curry,  Acting  Asst.-Surg.  at  Fort  Myer,  has  made  many 
hundreds  of  blood  examinations  on  sick  soldiers  sent  to  Camp 
Alger,  Jacksonville  and  other  camps.  As  a  result  of  the  work 
done  by  these  men  we  are  able  to  state  that  malaria  was  a 
very  rare  disease  among  those  troops  who  remained  in  the 
United  States. 

To  summarize  concerning  the  so-called  protracted  malarias 
reported  by  the  regimental  surgeons,  I  will  say  that,  in  my 
opinion,  practically  all  of  these  were  typhoid  fever,  and  the 
following  are  my  reasons  for  this  opinion : 

1.  The  uneven  distribution  of  the  so-called  malaria  among 
regiments  encamped  side  by  side  gives  cause  to  suspect  that 
these  cases  were  not  malarial. 

2.  Some  of  the  surgeons  who  failed  to  record  their  cases  as 
typhoidal,  state  in  their  comments  that  typhoid  fever  prevailed 
in  the  regiments. 

3.  The  results  of  several  hundred  blood  examinations 
showed  that  malaria  was  a  very  rare  disease  among  the  troops 
that  remained  in  the  United  States. 


198  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

4.  Malaria  as  it  exists  in  this  country  is  easily  controlled  by 
mild  doses  of  quinin.  All  the  so-called  protracted  malarias  in 
our  camp  were  treated  with  large  doses  of  quinin  and  were  not 
improved  thereby.  Consequently,  we  must  conclude  that  the 
diagnosis  given  these  cases  was  erroneous. 

5.  The  mortality  of  the  so-called  protracted  malarias  cor- 
responds with  the  mortality  of  typhoid  fever  and  furnishes 
most  positive  proof  that  these  cases  were  not  malarial. 

When  we  began  to  study  the  regimental  sick  reports  we 
found  that  in  order  to  obtain  satisfactory  information,  we  must 
endeavor  to  ascertain  how  many  cases  of  typhoid  fever  there 
were  in  each  regiment,  and  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  regi- 
mental sick  reports  did  not  give  this  information.  Of  two 
regiments  in  the  same  brigade  one  had  more  than  200  cases  of 
typhoid  fever,  as  shown  by  the  regimental  reports;  while  the 
other  regiment  on  like  evidence  had  only  two  cases,  but  the 
records  of  the  second  regiment  show  more  than  200  cases  of 
protracted  malaria,  and  these  furnished  a  mortality  as  high  as 
that  of  the  typhoid  fever  in  the  first  regiment.  For  the  reasons 
already  given,  we  have  included  all  the  protracted  malarias 
among  our  list  of  typhoids.  It  may  be  asked  how  long  we  have 
considered  it  necessary  for  a  so-called  malaria  to  run  in  order 
to  make  it  a  probable  typhoid.  In  answer  to  this  I  will  state 
that  we  have  regarded  all  so-called  malarias  of  ten  days  or 
more  in  duration  as  possible  cases  of  typhoid  fever.  We  think 
that  the  great  rarity  of  true  malaria  and  the  readiness  with 
which  these  rare  cases  have  yieded  to  quinin,  and  the  fact 
that  quinin  was  so  generally  administered  justifies  us  in  this 
conclusion.  Practically,  however,  the  number  of  doubtful 
cases  is  exceedingly  small. 

Typhoid  fever  was  not  only  diagnosed  malaria,  but  it  was 
covered  up  by  many  other  names.  In  one  regiment  the  death- 
rate  from  indigestion  amounted  to  15  per  cent,  of  the  completed 
cases.  In  another  regiment  at  Chickamauga  dengue  was  a  fre- 
quent diagnosis  of  many  cases  which  undoubtedly  were  typhoid 
fever.     .     .     ." 

MISTAKEN     DIAGNOSIS 

The  mode  of  origin  and  spread  of  typhoid  fever  in  our 
camps  is  illustrated  by  a  recent  epidemic  in  the  camp  of  the 
8th  Cavalry  at  Puerto  Principe,  Cuba.  Major  Walter  Reed, 
Surgeon  U.  S.  A.,  was  sent  at  my  request  to  make  a  special 
investigation  with  reference  to  the  origin  of  this  epidemic. 
The  following  quotation  from  his  report  shows  that,  as  usual, 
this  epidemic  had  its  origin  in  a  failure  to  promptly  recognize 
the  disease,  and  a  consequent  failure  to  disinfect  excreta  and 
to  move  the  troops  from  the  infected  camp  site: 


SPANISH-AMERICAN     WAR  199 

"The  total  number  of  cases  of  typhoid  fever  that  had 
occurred  to  date  was  reported  by  the  regimental  medical 
officers  as  103,  with  24  deaths.  Taking  the  average  mortality 
of  this  disease  in  military  camps,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  not 
less  than  250  cases  of  typhoid  fever  occurred  in  the  8th 
Cavalry  during  the  epidemic. 

To  sum  up  briefly  the  occurrence  of  typhoid  fever  in  the  8th 
Cavalry,  I  find  that  the  disease  was  imported  by  this  regiment 
into  its  Cuban  camp,  but  was  mistaken  by  the  various  medical 
officers  on  duty  with  the  regiment  for  malarial  remittent  fever, 
until  the  epidemic  had  reached  serious  proportions ;  that  it  was 
clearly  not  due  to  water  infection,  but  was  transferred  from 
the  infected  stools  of  patients  to  the  food  by  means  of  flies,  the 
conditions  being  especially  favorable  for  this  manner  of  dis- 
semination by  reason  of  the  close  proximity  of  the  picket  line 
to  mess-tents  and  latrines.  I  also  find  that  the  lax  methods 
of  disinfection  of  stools  and  clothing  of  patients  in  hospital 
were  additional  sources  of  infection. 

I  find  here  a  repetition  of  the  same  story  of  mistaken  diag- 
nosis with  regard  to  the  character  of  camp  fevers  that  occurred 
in  every  military  camp  in  the  United  States  last  summer,  and 
the  same  absence  of  any  evidence  pointing  to  the  contamination 
of  the  drinking  water." 

DIFFERENTIAL     DIAGNOSIS 

This  failure  to  recognize  typhoid  fever  during  its  earlier 
stages  is  an  error  of  diagnosis  which  was  made  on  a  very 
extensive  scale  during  the  Civil  War,  has  been  made  on  an 
equally  extensive  scale  by  surgeons  of  the  British  army  on  duty 
with  troops  in  India,  and  is  still  being  made  by  a  majority  of 
the  practitioners  of  medicine  in  certain  parts  of  our  own 
country. 

The  fact  that  enteric  fever  has  an  intermittent  or  remittent 
character  has  been  pointed  out  by  many  authors  and  was 
referred  to  in  the  writer's  work  on  "Malaria  and  Malarial 
Diseases,"  published  in  1884,  as  follows : 

"Probably  one  of  the  most  common  mistakes  in  diagnosis, 
made  in  all  parts  of  the  world  where  malarial  and  enteric 
fevers  are  endemic,  is  that  of  calling  an  attack  of  fever,  belong- 
ing to  the  last  named  category,  remittent.  This  arises  from 
the  difficulties  attending  a  differential  diagnosis  at  the  outset, 
and  from  the  fact  that  having  once  made  a  diagnosis  of  remit- 
tent, the  physician,  even  if  convinced  later  that  a  mistake  has 
been  made,  does  not  always  feel  willing  to  confess  it.  The  case 
therefore  appears  in  the  mortality  returns  if  it  prove  fatal,  or 
in  the  statistic  reports  of  disease,  if  made  by  an  army  or  navy 
surgeon,  as  at  first  diagnosed.     Quite  as  frequently,  perhaps, 


200  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

the  physician  remains  convinced  that  his  first  diagnosis  was 
correct,  inasmuch  as  the  fever  was  decidedly  remittent  in  type 
during  the  first  week,  and  is  puzzled  to  know  why  he  did  not 
succeed  in  arresting  the  progress  of  the  disease  by  the  free 
administration  of  quinin.  By  referring  to  the  literature  of  the 
subject  he  will  find  ample  support  for  the  view  that  remittent 
fevers  are  likely  to  assume  a  continued  form,  and  that  patients 
suffering  from  malarial  fevers  of  a  remittent  or  continued 
type  frequently  fall  into  a  typhoid  condition.  It  is,  therefore, 
not  surprising  that  mistakes  are  frequently  made,  especially 
when  we  remember  that  during  the  first  week  typhoid  has  a 
decidedly  remittent  character,  quite  independently  of  any 
malarial  complication,  and  that  the  periodic  fluctuations  of  the 
pyretic  movement  are  still  more  pronounced  when  it  occurs  in 
a  malarial  subject,  i.e.,  one  who  has  suffered  frequent  attacks 
of  periodic  fever.  Moreover,  there  are  undoubtedly  cases  of 
enteric  fever  of  so  mild  a  form  that  all  of  the  characters  com- 
monly relied  upon  for  making  a  diagnosis  are  wanting,  and 
these  cases  of  typhoid  poisoning  may  be  complicated  by  the 
most  decided  evidences  of  malarial  poisoning  when  the  case 
occurs  in  a  malarious  region,  or  in  an  individual  who  has  been 
recently  exposed  in  such  a  region." 

This  failure  to  recognize  typhoid  fever,  especially  in  its 
earlier  stages  and  in  its  milder  manifestations,  is  not  peculiar 
to  American  physicians,  but  has  occurred  in  all  parts  of  the 
world  where  the  two  diseases  prevail  in  the  same  area.  In 
India  for  many  years  the  British  medical  officers  denied  that 
typhoid  fever  existed  as  an  endemic  disease. 

The  differential  diagnosis  of  typhoid  and  malarial  fevers  can 
be  made  at  an  earlier  date  and  with  much  greater  certainty  by 
a  microscopic  examination  of  the  blood  and  the  application  of 
the  Widal  test  than  was  practicable  before  the  discovery  of  the 
malarial  parasite  and  of  the  specific  agglutinating  action  of 
blood  serum  from  a  typhoid  case  upon  a  culture  of  the  bacillus. 
But  these  scientific  studies  are  so  recent  that  the  profession 
generally  still  depends  upon  specially  trained  experts  for  their 
application  to  the  diagnosis  of  doubtful  cases.  It  is  to  be 
hoped,  however,  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  every 
qualified  practitioner  of  medicine  will  be  prepared  to  apply 
these  invaluable  means  of  diagnosis. 

PRINCIPAL     SANITARY    LESSONS 

Finally,  the  principal  lessons  to  be  derived  from  our  recent 
experience  may  be  stated  as  follows : 

A  trained  medical  corps  hardly  adequate  for  an  army  of 
25,000  men  can  not  control  the  sanitary  situation  when  this 
army  is  quickly  expanded  to  250,000.    Physicians  and  surgeons 


SPANISH-AMERICAN     WAR  201 

from  civil  life,  however  well  qualified  professionally,  as  a  rule, 
are  not  prepared  to  assume  the  responsibilities  of  medical 
officers  charged  with  administrative  duties  and  the  sanitary 
supervision  of  camps.  The  proper  performance  of  such  duties 
can  not  be  expected  from  a  physician  without  military  training 
or  experience,  no  matter  how  distinguished  a  position  he  may 
have  held  in  civil  life. 

Courage  and  patriotism  on  the  part  of  line  officers  and 
enlisted  men  can  not  take  the  place  of  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence ;  new  levies  of  troops  are,  as  a  rule,  ignorant  of  the  first 
principles  of  camp  sanitation,  and  reckless  as  to  the  con- 
sequences of  their  neglect  of  prescribed  sanitary  regulations. 
Therefore,  training  and  discipline  are  essential  factors  in  the 
preservation  of  the  health  of  soldiers  in  garrison  or  in  the  field. 

The  value  of  the  aphorism,  "in  time  of  peace  prepare  for 
war,"  has  received  additional  support.  This  preparation 
should  include  a  corps  of  trained  medical  officers  larger  than 
is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  army  on  a  peace  basis,  and 
systematic  instruction  in  military  medicine  and  hygiene  for 
the  medical  officers  of  the  national  guard  as  well  as  for  those 
of  the  regular  army ;  also  instruction  of  line  officers  in  the  ele- 
ments of  hygiene  and  especially  in  camp  sanitation.  It  should 
also  include  the  establishment  of  camping-grounds  in  various 
parts  of  the  country,  having  an  ample  supply  of  pure  water,  a 
proper  system  of  sewers,  etc.  If  our  volunteers  could  have 
been  assembled  in  such  camps  during  the  late  war  a  saving  in 
lives  and  money  would  have  resulted  which  would  without 
doubt  have  demonstrated  the  economy  of  such  preparation  for 
war  in  time  of  peace." 

ANSWERS     TO     CRITICISMS 

In  reply  to  certain  broad  criticisms  of  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment during  the  war,  General  Sternberg  addressed  the  follow- 
ing communication  to  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  Army, 
December  16,  1901 : 

To  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  Army. 

Sir : — Referring  to  the  remarks  of  Dr.  Charles  A.  L.  Reed, 
at  a  banquet  given  him  by  the  medical  profession  of  Northern 
Ohio,  I  have  the  honor  to  report  as  follows : 

It  is  evident  that  in  speaking  of  the  losses  from  a  prevent- 
able disease  in  one  of  our  camps  during  the  Spanish-American 
War,  Dr.  Reed  refers  to  Camp  Thomas,  Chickamauga  Park, 
Ga.  It  is  true  that  the  troops  in  that  camp  suffered  severe 
losses  from  typhoid  fever,  and  it  is  also  true  that  the  medical 
profession  generally  regard  typhoid  fever  as  a  preventable  dis- 
ease.   We  have  succeeded  in  preventing  any  considerable  prev- 


202  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

alence  of  typhoid  fever  at  our  permanent  military  posts  during 
the  past  twenty  years  by  constant  attention  to  sanitation.  But 
when  considerable  numbers  of  raw  troops,  with  line  officers 
and  medical  officers  who  for  the  most  part  were  without  pre- 
vious experience  in  the  sanitary  supervision  of  troops,  were 
brought  into  camps  not  previously  prepared  for  their  reception 
the  result  was  disastrous,  and  in  nearly  every  camp  throughout 
the  country  typhoid  fever  prevailed  as  an  epidemic.  The 
causes  for  this  are  set  forth  in  my  paper  on  "Sanitary  Lessons 
of  the  War,"  read  before  the  American  Medical  Association 
at  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  1899,  a  copy  of  which  I  enclose  here- 
with. It  is  evident  that  no  one  man  can  properly  be  held 
responsible  for  the  conditions  which  existed  at  Camp  Thomas, 
although  the  Commanding  General  of  a  camp,  or  army  in  the 
field,  is  supposed  to  be  responsible  for  everything  pertaining 
to  the  well-being  of  the  troops  under  his  command.  Under 
existing  regulations  officers  of  the  Medical  Department  are 
simply  responsible  that  proper  sanitary  recommendations  are 
made  to  officers  of  the  line  having  authority  to  carry  them  out. 

Major  William  O.  Owen,  Surgeon,  U.  S.  Army,  some  time 
since  read  a  paper  before  a  medical  society  in  Cincinnati  in 
which  he  advocated  the  view  that  medical  officers  should  be 
given  the  authority  for  carrying  out  necessary  measures.  In 
that  case  they  would  be  responsible  for  any  failure  to  carry 
out  necessary  sanitary  measures  for  the  protection  of  troops 
with  which  they  were  serving.  But  this  would  often  involve 
the  moving  of  troops  from  one  camp  site  to  another,  and 
measures  which  evidently  could  not  properly  be  executed 
except  by  authority  of  the  Commanding  Officer.  Dr.  Reed, 
and  civilians  generally,  can  hardly  be  expected  to  appreciate  the 
military  reasons  which  make  it  impracticable  to  place  the  con- 
trol of  sanitary  matters  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Medical 
Department.  A  medical  officer  might  consider  it  necessary  to 
order  the  construction  of  sewers  or  the  sinking  of  wells  at  a 
camp  which  was  shortly  to  be  abandoned,  the  fact  being 
known  to  the  commanding  officer  but  for  military  reasons  not 
made  public. 

Dr.  Reed's  statement  that  "an  officer  in  the  service  who 
today  agitates  this  unsavory  subject  is  banished  to  the  Philip- 
pines" is  based  upon  the  fact  that  Major  Owen,  who  read  the 
paper  above  referred  to,  has  been  ordered  to  the  Philippines 
and  some  of  his  friends  have  inferred  that  his  being  so  ordered 
was  a  result  of  his  reading  the  paper,  a  copy  of  which  is 
enclosed.  This  is  a  mistake.  I  asked  for  Major  Owen's 
orders  before  having  seen  or  heard  anything  of  his  paper, 
because  he  had  been  on  duty  in  the  United  States  for  more 
than  two  years  and  his  services  are  required  in  the  Philippines. 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  203 

As  to  the  statement  that  "the  Surgeon-General  cannot  fill  the 
sixty  or  more  vacancies  now  existing  in  his  Corps,  and  that 
self-respecting  men  are  not  offering  themselves,"  I  would  say 
that  there  have  been  more  than  four  hundred  applications  for 
admission  to  the  Medical  Corps  during  the  past  year,  and 
eighty  physicians,  many  of  whom  had  had  previous  service  and 
were  entirely  familiar  with  existing  conditions  in  the  Army, 
have  passed  our  army  medical  examining  boards  and  been 
commissioned  as  assistant  surgeons  in  the  Army.  It  is  a  fact, 
however,  that  the  legislation  enacted  last  winter  gave  us  a  dis- 
proportionate number  of  medical  officers  in  the  lowest  grade 
and  that  without  additional  legislation  in  the  future  assistant 
surgeons  who  enter  the  Army  hereafter  to  fill  existing  vacan- 
cies (60)  will  be  at  a  disadvantage  as  regards  promotion. 
This  will  no  doubt  prevent  some  desirable  men  from  civil  life, 
and  a  certain  number  of  contract  surgeons  and  Volunteer 
medical  officers,  from  applying  for  commissions  in  the  Regular 
Army. 

MILITARY     HYGIENE     AT     WEST     POINT 

Inasmuch  as  commanding  officers  of  troops  are,  and  must 
be,  directly  responsible  for  the  carrying  out  of  all  necessary 
sanitary  improvements  and  regulations  in  garrisons  and  camps, 
I  respectfully  invite  attention  to  the  importance  of  instructing 
line  officers  in  all  that  relates  to  military  hygiene.  In  this  con- 
nection attention  is  also  invited  to  the  recommendation  of  the 
Board  of  Visitors  to  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy  for  the  year 
1901,  which  is  as  follows: 

"The  question  of  the  establishment  of  a  course  on  military 
hygiene  has  received  the  careful  attention  of  the  committee. 
They  beg  to  submit  to  the  board  for  indorsement  and  approval 
the  following  propositions,  some  of  which  are  extracted  from 
a  previous  report  upon  the  same  subject  made  by  the 
chairman : 

"1.  The  establishment  of  such  a  course  has  been  repeatedly 
recommended  by  Boards  of  Visitors  and  Surgeon-Generals, 
and  has  been  approved  on  more  than  one  occasion  by  the  Sec- 
retary of  War. 

"2.  As  long  ago  as  1894  the  Board  of  Visitors  argued  in 
support  of  the  establishment  of  such  a  chair,  to  the  effect  that 
the  mere  rudiments  of  hygiene  in  relation  only  to  personal 
health  cannot  be  acquired  by  the  cadets  in  so  short  a  course  as 
was  then,  and  is  now,  given  at  the  Academy  (ten  hours 
altogether  of  lectures  and  recitations)  ;  and  when,  in  addition, 
the  important  questions  of  the  proper  or  improper  feeding, 
clothing,  housing,  and  physical  training  of  the  soldiers  in  peace 
and  during  the  exigencies  of  war;  the  prevalence  and  preven- 
tion of  disease,  which  makes  far    greater    inroads    upon    the 


204  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

effective  strength  of  an  army  than  do  the  shot  and  shell  of  the 
enemy,  and  the  complicated  problems  of  the  effective  yet 
practicable  sanitation  of  barracks  and  camps  are  considered 
thorough  instruction  in  this  department  is  seen  to  be  not  only 
desirable  but  urgent,  and  in  fact,  necessary. 

"3.  The  American  Medical  Association,  representing  the 
profession  of  the  entire  country,  has  recently  (June  7,  1899) 
unanimously  recommended  'that  a  professor  of  military 
hygiene  be  appointed  at  West  Point  to  instruct  the  cadets  in 
the  principles  of  sanitation,'  and  resolved  that  a  Committee  be 
appointed  to  wait  upon  and  present  this  and  other  resolutions 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States  for  his  favorable 
consideration." 

Very  respectfully, 

Geo.  M.  Sternberg, 
Surgeon-General,  U.  S.  Army. 

As  a  reply  to  an  article  by  Col.  Theodore  Roosevelt,  then 
Governor  of  New  York,  unfavorably  contrasting  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  War  Department  with  the  Navy  Department,  Gen- 
eral Sternberg  submitted  an  article  to  The  Century  Magazine 
in  1899.  The  editor  of  The  Century  declined  to  publish  it  in 
full  for  want  of  space,  and,  in  a  letter  dated  Dec.  5,  1899,  the 
'"'associate  editor"  said,  "We  ought  to  add  that  the  first  of 
February  is  the  first  date  on  which  the  article  could  appear 
and  we  might  not  find  two  pages  then."  It  was  therefore 
withdrawn,  and  General  Sternberg  published  privately  the  fol- 
lowing defense  of  the  War  Department. 

In  the  Century  Magazine  for  November,  1899,  is  an  article 
by  Governor  Roosevelt  contrasting  the  condition  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Spain,  in  which 
very  unfavorable  inferences  are  drawn  as  regards  the 
efficiency  of  the  Chiefs  of  Bureaus  in  the  War  Department. 

We  are  all  proud  of  the  achievements  of  our  navy  and  are 
ready  to  do  full  honor  to  the  naval  heroes  of  the  war  and  to 
the  bureau  officers  in  the  Navy  Department  who  have  directed 
the  equipment  and  movements  of  our  ships  of  war.  But  it 
may  be  questioned  whether  such  a  comparison  as  Governor 
Roosevelt  has  made  is  in  good  taste,  and  I  think  it  can  easily 
be  shown  that  it  is,  to  a  certain  extent  at  least,  unjust.  That 
the  navy  was  better  prepared  for  a  foreign  war  than  the  army 
is  undoubtedly  true.  For  years  past  large  appropriations  have 
been  made  for  the  purpose  of  building  up  a  "new  navy,"  and 
we  have  now  a  fleet  of  battleships  and  cruisers  which  com- 
mands the  admiration  of  the  world.     On  the  other  hand,  all 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  205 

efforts  to  obtain  legislation  for  an  increase  in  the  army,  or  for 
its  reorganization  in  accordance  with  the  views  of  our  leading 
military  experts,  have  proved  futile  and  our  army  when  war 
was  declared  had  practically  the  same  strength  and  organiza- 
tion as  it  has  had  for  many  years.  Nevertheless,  I  make  bold 
to  say,  our  little  army  of  25,000  men  in  its  soldierly  qualities 
and  fighting  capacity  was  unexcelled. 

It  is  not  my  present  intention  to  discuss  the  organization  of 
our  army,  or  to  contrast  its  achievements  with  those  of  the 
navy.  There  is  an  old  proverb  with  reference  to  comparisons. 
But  I  beg  leave  to  call  the  attention  of  Governor  Roosevelt 
and  others  who  are  inclined  to  make  such  comparisons,  to  the 
following  facts : 

The  army  was  expanded  within  two  months  from  25,000  to 
more  than  250,000  men.  The  enlisted  personnel  of  the  navy 
did  not  at  any  time  during  the  war  exceed  24,500  men.  The 
ships  of  the  navy  afford  to  our  sailors  comfortable  quarters 
and  ample  transportation  for  supplies  of  all  kinds,  and  when 
ordered  to  sea  they  are  usually  outfitted  at  a  navy  yard  where 
supplies  of  all  kinds  are  stored.  On  the  other  hand,  the  sup- 
plies for  the  army  must  be  shipped  from  the  various  supply 
depots  or  purchasing  points  to  the  numerous  and  often  distant 
camps  where  the  troops  are  assembled.  The  problems,  there- 
fore, connected  with  the  transportation  of  troops  and  supplies, 
which  are  recognized  by  all  military  authorities  as  being  among 
the  most  important  and  difficult  of  all  these  connected  with  the 
organization  and  mobilization  of  a  large  army,  are  peculiar  to 
the  military  service. 

Again,  the  difficulties  connected  with  the  sanitation  of 
camps,  especially  when  new  levies  of  undisciplined  troops  are 
hastily  assembled,  are  peculiar  to  the  military  service.  Sailors 
on  ship-board  are  removed  from  many  influences  which  con- 
tribute to  the  sick-rate  of  the  army.  They  have  the  ocean  for 
a  sewer  and  are  not  exposed  to  the  insanitary  conditions  result- 
ing from  the  aggregation  of  soldiers  in  large  camps  or  to  the 
hardships  connected  with  an  active  campaign  in  a  tropical 
country. 

Governor  Roosevelt  refers  to  the  bureaus  of  the  War 
Department  in  the  following  language : 

"The  bureaus  in  Washington  were  absolutely  enmeshed  in 
red  tape,  and  were  held  for  the  most  part  by  elderly  men,  of 
fine  records  in  the  past,  who  were  no  longer  fit  to  break 
through  routine  and  to  show  the  extraordinary  energy,  busi- 
ness capacity,  initiative,  and  willingness  to  accept  responsi- 
bility which  were  needed." 

The  bureau  officers  of  the  War  Department  were  subjected 
to  much  unjust  criticism  during  the  war  which  they  were 
obliged  to  endure  in  silence,  both  because  their  time  was  fully 


206  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

occupied  by  their  official  duties  and  because  it  is  considered 
undignified  for  a  person  in  high  official  position  to  reply  to 
the  attacks  of  newspaper  correspondents.  But  when  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  State  of  New  York  makes  such  an  assertion  as 
that  above  quoted  in  a  periodical  having  the  standing  of  the 
Century  Magazine,  it  appears  to  me  that  as  a  matter  of  justice 
and  of  historical  record  some  one  having  a  knowledge  of  the 
facts  should  reply. 

As  to  the  bureaus  in  Washington  being  "absolutely 
enmeshed  in  red  tape,"  I  believe  that  an  impartial  investiga- 
tion will  show  that  there  is  no  more  red  tape  in  the  army  than 
in  the  navy.  The  methods  of  business  ("red  tape")  pursued 
in  the  various  bureaus  of  the  War  Department  are  based  upon 
laws  enacted  by  Congress,  and  regulations,  based  upon  past 
military  experience,  which  were  carefully  revised  as  recently 
as  1895  by  a  board  of  officers  appointed  by  the  Hon.  Daniel 
S.  Lamont,  then  Secretary  of  War.  Bureau  chiefs  are  subject 
to  these  laws  and  regulations,  and  it  is  evident  that  without 
a  well-established  system  the  administration  of  the  various 
departments  would  be  in  a  chaotic  condition.  That  there  is  no 
room  for  improvement  it  would  be  foolish  to  contend ;  but  the 
present  system,  so  far  as  army  regulations  are  concerned,  is 
the  result  of  many  years  of  experience  and  of  constant  efforts 
for  improvement  by  a  series  of  more  or  less  efficient  bureau 
chiefs  and  Secretaries  of  War. 

During  the  war  with  Spain  and  subsequently,  urgent  busi- 
ness with  the  various  bureaus  of  the  War  Department  has 
been  largely  conducted  by  telegraph,  and  that  kind  of  "red 
tape"  which  leads  to  delay  in  the  transaction  of  important 
business  has  to  a  considerable  extent  been  done  away  with. 
The  bureau  officers  have  acted  in  harmony  and  those  who  are 
familiar  with  the  facts  know  that  each  one  has  devoted  himself 
with  untiring  energy  to  the  dispatch  of  public  business,  and 
that  so  far  as  was  compatible  with  existing  laws  and  regula- 
tions they  have  endeavored  to  do  away  with  "red  tape." 

Governor  Roosevelt  informs  the  readers  of  the  Century 
Magazine  that  the  bureaus  in  Washington  "were  held  for  the 
most  part  by  elderly  men,  of  fine  records  in  the  past,  who  were 
no  longer  fit  to  break  through  routine,"  etc.  The  bureau 
officers  of  the  navy,  on  the  other  hand,  are  commended  and 
the  inference  is  that  they  were  much  younger  and  more  active 
men.  Let  us,  for  a  moment,  consider  the  facts.  The  Chief  of 
the  Bureau  of  Navigation  in  the  navy,  as  regards  his  duties, 
may  best  be  compared  with  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  army, 
although  the  work  of  the  Adjutant-General's  Office  is  many 
times  greater,  especially  when  large  numbers  of  volunteer 
troops  are  called  into  service.  Admiral  Crownshield  was  55 
years   old   when   war  with   Spain   was   declared.     Adjutant- 


SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR  207 

General  Corbin  was  also  55  years  old,  but  looks  five  years 
younger.  He  is  a  man  of  powerful  physique,  of  untiring 
energy  and  of  great  executive  ability.  As  assistants  in  his 
office  he  has  had  General  Schwan,  Lieut.  Col.  Carter,  Major 
Heistand,  Major  Johnston  and  Major  Simpson.  All  men  of 
marked  ability,  all  having  had  ample  experience  as  line 
officers,  and  all,  with  the  exception  of  General  Schwan,  less 
than  50  years  of  age.  The  Adjutant-General  himself  was  a 
line  officer  for  eighteen  years.  Probably  few  of  the  bureau 
officers  of  the  navy  have  been  to  sea  more  years  than  this. 

The  duties  devolving  upon  the  Commissary-General  and 
Quartermaster-General  of  the  Army,  in  the  Navy  pertain  to 
the  office  of  the  Paymaster-General.  Paymaster-General 
Stewart  of  the  navy  was  past  sixty  years  of  age  when  war 
was  declared.  The  Quartermaster-General  of  the  Army  was 
a  vigorous  man  of  58,  who  has  stood  the  enormous  strain  of 
the  war  period  without  breaking  down  in  health  or  relaxing 
his  strenuous  efforts  to  meet  the  enormous  demands  upon  his 
department  for  transportation,  clothing,  camp  and  garrison 
equipage,  etc.,  etc. 

General  Egan,  Commissary-General,  was  57  years  old  when 
war  was  declared.  He  certainly  cannot  justly  be  accused  of 
want  of  physical  vigor  or  mental  activity.  The  Inspector- 
General  of  the  Army  was  but  56  years  old  when  war  was 
declared.  The  Surgeon-General  was  59  years  old,  nearly  two 
years  older  than  the  Surgeon-General  of  the  Navy.  The  Engi- 
neer in  Chief  in  charge  of  the  Bureau  of  Steam  Engineering 
of  the  Navy,  was  57  years  old;  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of 
Equipment  54;  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Ordnance  56. 
General  Wilson,  Chief  of  Engineers,  is  certainly  one  of  the 
most  vigorous  and  able  men  in  the  War  Department;  he  was 
60  years  old  when  war  was  declared.  General  Greely,  Chief 
Signal  Officer,  was  only  54. 

The  argument  of  Governor  Roosevelt  in  favor  of  detailing 
line  officers  of  the  army  for  duty  in  charge  of  the  bureaus  of 
the  War  Department  receives  no  support  from  the  practice  in 
the  Navy  so  far  as  the  Quartermaster,  Commissary  and  Medi- 
cal Departments  are  concerned.  The  Paymaster-General, 
Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Steam  Engineering  and  Surgeon- 
General  of  the  Navy  are  not  detailed  officers  of  the  line  and 
evidently  could  not  be  without  prejudice  to  the  interests  of  the 
service.  In  the  army  the  officers  of  the  Adjutant-General's 
and  of  the  Inspector-General's  Department  have  always  been 
selected  from  the  line  of  the  army,  and  as  a  rule  the  Commis- 
saries and  Quartermasters  have  also  been  line  officers  of 
experience.  Under  present  laws  no  others  are  appointed.  In 
the  scientific  corps  of  the  army — Engineer  and  Ordnance — 
the  special  knowledge  required  is  of  such  a  nature  that  it  may 


208  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

be  doubted  whether  it  would  be  in  the  interest  of  the  service 
to  detail  line  officers  to  administer  the  affairs  of  these  bureaus 
of  the  War  Department.  Certainly  it  would  be  a  difficult  task 
to  name  any  officers  of  the  line  as  competent  to  fill  these  places 
as  are  the  present  distinguished  incumbents,  General  Wilson 
and  General  Buffington. 

Finally,  I  would  say  that,  with  three  exceptions — General 
Egan,  Commissary-General,  General  Flagler,  Chief  of  Ord- 
nance, who  died  in  March,  1899,  and  the  Paymaster-General, 
who  was  retired  for  age  in  January,  1899,  the  bureau  officers 
of  the  War  Department  are  the  same  as  those  upon  whom  was 
thrown  the  responsibility  of  providing  for  an  army  of  260,000 
men  in  the  spring  of  1898.  Time  is  an  essential  element  in  all 
great  undertakings,  and  it  takes  time  to  organize  and  equip 
an  army  as  well  as  to  build  a  battleship.  No  amount  of  money 
or  energy  would  enable  the  bureau  officers  of  the  Navy  to 
build  a  battleship  in  three  months,  and  it  is  unreasonable  to 
hold  the  bureau  officers  of  the  War  Department  responsible 
for  the  unavoidable  difficulties  and  failures  connected  with  the 
organization  and  equipment  of  a  large  army  after  war  was 
declared.  That  we  were  not  better  prepared  was  not  the  fault 
of  the  War  Department,  for  supplies  could  not  be  purchased 
without  money  and  our  estimates  have  for  years  been  cut 
down  by  Congress.  What  can  be  accomplished  by  the  War 
Department  when  the  necessary  money  is  appropriated  and  a 
reasonable  time  allowed  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  objects 
in  view  is  shown  by  the  organization,  equipment  and  trans- 
portation of  the  troops  now  in  the  Philippines  and  on  their 
way  there ;  by  the  magnificent  fleet  of  transports  and  hospital 
ships  now  owned  by  the  Government ;  by  the  model  hospitals 
which  have  been  established  in  this  country,  in  the  Philippines 
and  in  Cuba,  and,  in  short,  by  the  magnificent  results  attained 
during  the  war  with  Spain  and  since,  notwithstanding  the 
"unpreparedness"  to  which  Governor  Roosevelt  refers,  and 
which  cannot  be  denied,  but  for  which  it  is  rank  injustice  to 
hold  the  chiefs  of  bureaus  of  the  War  Department  responsible. 


CHAPTER    FIFTEEN 

SCIENTIFIC    ACHIEVEMENTS     DURING     THE 
SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR 

General  Sternberg  notwithstanding  the  many  hours  of 
anxiety  and  the  responsibilities  connected  with  the  medical 
administration  of  the  war  never  lost  interest  in  scientific 
research,  to  the  development  of  which  he  had  devoted  the  best 
years  of  his  life.  His  continued  interest  is  attested  by  the 
appointment  of  various  boards  for  investigation  into  the 
etiology  and  prevention  of  important  diseases.  Reference  has 
already  been  made  to  the  appointment  of  a  board  of  sanitary 
experts  for  making  a  searching  study  of  the  causes  of  the 
extensive  prevalence  of  typhoid  fever  in  the  military  camps. 
Another  board  for  the  same  purpose  was  appointed  in  the 
Philippine  Islands. 

BOARD     FOR     STUDY     OF     TROPICAL     DISEASES 

But  General  Sternberg  did  not  limit  his  interest  to  typhoid 
fever,  for  it  is  noted  in  the  report  of  the  Surgeon-General  for 
1900  "that  on  his  recommendation  a  board  of  medical  officers 
consisting  of  Dr.  Jere  B.  Clayton,  Dr.  Richard  P.  Strong, 
Assistant  Surgeons,  U.  S.  Army,  and  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon 
Joseph  J.  Curry,  was  appointed  to  meet  at  one  of  the  general 
hospitals  in  or  near  Manila,  P.  I.  for  the  purpose  of  studying 
tropical  diseases  as  they  occur  in  those  Islands.  Special 
attention  should  be  given  to  tropical  dysentery,  to  the  malarial 
fevers  prevailing  in  the  Philippines,  to  beriberi,  to  intestinal 
parasites,  and  in  general  to  all  tropical  diseases,  the  etiology 
of  which  has  not  been  completely  worked  out." 

Excellent  work  was  done  by  the  members  of  this  board  and 
their  associates  in  the  laboratories  of  the  large  hospitals, 
v/hich  may  be  briefly  summarized. 

ISOLATION     OF     BACILLUS     DYSENTERIAE 

Lieut.  Richard  P.  Strong  made  a  careful  study  of  dysentery 
cases  in  the  laboratory  of  the  First  Reserve  Hospital,  Manila, 
in  which  work  he  was  assisted  by  hospital  steward,  W.  E.  Mus- 


210  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

grave,  M.D.,  pathologist  of  the  hospital.  A  report  of  the 
results  of  these  investigations  was  issued  June  17,  1900. 
During  a  period  of  ten  months  prior  to  this  date,  9,063  cases 
were  treated  in  the  hospital  and  1,328  (14.64  per  cent.)  of 
these  were  cases  of  dysentery.  Of  the  latter  patients,  581  were 
returned  to  duty,  125  ended  fatally  in  the  hospital,  283  were 
transferred  to  other  hospitals  in  the  Philippines,  and  336  were 
sent  to  the  United  States  for  possible  benefit  from  the  sea 
voyage  and  change  of  climate.  The  studies  included  111 
necropsies  on  dysenteric  cases,  twenty-one  of  which  were 
classified  on  anatomic  grounds  as  acute  specific  dysentery.  A 
bacillus  was  isolated  in  seventeen  of  these  twenty-one  cases, 
and  in  two  of  eleven  subacute  cases.  In  one  of  the  former 
and  two  of  the  latter,  the  bacillus  was  not  looked  for;  in 
twenty-six  of  the  amebic  cases  the  bacillus  was  not  found  and 
in  the  remaining  fifty-three  it  was  not  sought,  while  in  sixty- 
eight  of  seventy-nine  amebic  cases,  motile  Amoebae  dysenteriae 
were  found.  The  bacillus  isolated  by  Drs.  Strong  and  Mus- 
grave  is  similar  to  that  discovered  by  Shiga  in  Kitasato's 
laboratory  in  1898,  and  is  today  recognized  as  the  specific 
cause  of  bacillary  dysentery. 

Splendid  work  was  also  done  by  Dr.  Charles  F.  Craig  on 
subacute  and  chronic  dysentery  at  the  U.  S.  General  Hospital 
at  the  Presidio  of  San  Francisco,  where  he  gave  close  atten- 
tion to  cases  coming  from  Manila.  He  isolated  a  bacillus 
identical  with  that  found  by  Dr.  Flexner  in  Manila,  previously 
described  by  Shiga,  which  was  pathogenic  to  small  animals. 

PLAGUE     IN     MANILA 

In  December,  1899,  bubonic  plague  appeared  in  Manila. 
The  first  two  cases  occurred  in  the  same  house  and  were 
reported  as  typhoid  fever.  The  disease  prevailed  for  seven 
months,  during  which  225  cases  were  reported  with  fifty-eight 
recoveries,  while  from  forty  to  eighty  Chinese  died  from 
unknown  cause  without  medical  attendance ;  some  of  these  pre- 
sumably were  victims  of  plague.  Lieut.  W.  J.  Calvert,  Assist- 
ant Surgeon  U.  S.  Army,  then  on  duty  with  the  board  of  health 
in  Manila,  was  sent  on  a  special  visit  to  Japan  and  China,  for 
the  purpose  of  studying  the  measures  in  use  in  dealing  with 
epidemic  plague. 


SCIENTIFIC    ACHIEVEMENTS  211 

In  connection  with  this  subject,  General  Sternberg  says : 

Fortunately  this  outbreak  gave  opportunity  for  competent 
bacteriologists  to  make  scientific  investigation  in  relation  to 
the  specific  cause  of  this  scourge  of  the  human  race  and  to  the 
demonstration  that  it  is  due  to  a  minute  bacillus.  The  dis- 
covery was  first  made  by  the  Japanese  bacteriologist,  Kitasato, 
who  had  received  his  training  in  the  laboratory  of  the  famous 
Prof.  Robert  Koch  of  Berlin.  This  discovery  was  made  in 
the  month  of  June,  1894,  in  one  of  the  hospitals  established 
by  the  English  officials  in  Hongkong.  About  the  same  time, 
the  discovery  was  made  independently  by  the  French  bacteri- 
ologist, Yersin.  From  this  time,  the  study  of  the  plague  has 
been  established  upon  a  scientific  basis,  and  several  material 
additions  have  been  made  to  our  knowledge  with  reference  to 
the  prevention  and  treatment  of  the  disease.  We  have  learned 
that  certain  of  the  lower  animals,  including  rats  and  mice,  are 
very  susceptible  to  infection,  and  they  play  an  important  part 
in  the  propagation  of  the  disease ;  also  that  the  germs  are 
found  not  only  in  the  blood  and  in  the  pus  from  suppurating 
buboes,  but  also  in  the  discharge  from  the  bowels  of  infected 
individuals.  This  being  the  case,  it  can  readily  be  seen  how 
important  a  strict  sanitary  police  is  in  arresting  the  spread  of 
an  epidemic.  As  in  other  filth  diseases  in  which  the  germ  is 
present  in  the  excreta  of  the  sick,  insects,  and  especially  fleas 
and  house  flies  probably  play  an  important  part  in  the  spread 
of  the  disease."1 


1.  The  good  work  of  medical  officers  initiated  by  General  Stern- 
berg did  not  cease,  as  Lieut.-Col.  C.  C.  McCulloch  (Scientific  Monthly, 
May,  1917,  p.  424)  informs  us.  Captain  Craig  in  the  Philippines 
"demonstrated  that  intracorpuscular  conjugation  in  the  parasites  of 
malarial  fever  is  the  cause  of  latency  and  relapses  of  the  disease,  and 
that  these  are  malaria  carriers,  that  is  persons  who  carry  the  malarial 
parasites  about  with  them  without  being  affected  by  the  disease.  In 
1906,  Craig  discovered  a  new  parasite  associated  with  dysenteric 
infections,  the  Paramoeba  (now  called  Craigia)  hominis.  With  Major 
Percy  M.  Ashburn,  he  discovered  another  parasite,  Microfilaria  philli- 
pinensis,  in  1906,  and  demonstrated  that  the  cause  of  dengue  or  break- 
bone  fever  is  a  filterable  virus  transmitted  by  the  mosquito  Culex 
fatigans  (1907).  In  the  Philippines  also,  Capt.  Edward  B.  Vedder  made 
important  investigations  of  beriberi,  a  tropical  form  of  neuritis  which 
has  been  attributed  to  an  exclusive  diet  of  highly  milled  or  polished 
rice.  It  was  found  that  the  disease  is  what  is  now  termed  a  "defi- 
ciency disease,"  that  is,  one  caused  by  a  diet  deficient  in  certain  sub- 
stances necessary  to  the  physiological  economy  of   the  body." 


212  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

DISCOVERY     OF     HOOKWORM     IN     WESTERN     HEMISPHERE 

The  Spanish-American  War  demonstrated  the  existence  of 
the  so-called  hookworm  disease  in  the  Western  hemisphere. 
The  disease  had  been  recognized  as  a  true  soil  disease  for  a 
number  of  years,  certainly  since  1879  when  Perroncito  demon- 
strated that  the  general  anemia  and  debility  among  the  miners 
in  the  construction  of  the  St.  Gothard  tunnel  was  caused  by 
this  intestinal  parasite.  The  worm  is  about  one-half  or  two- 
thirds  inch  in  length  and  of  the  thickness  of  a  pin  and  produces 
its  evil  effects  by  attaching  itself  to  the  upper  portion  of  the 
intestine  and  by  generating  toxins. 

It  was,  however,  through  the  labors  of  Dr.  Bailey  K.  Ash- 
ford,  a  graduate  of  the  Army  Medical  School,  that  the  prev- 
alence of  the  disease  on  this  continent  was  brought  to  atten- 
tion. He  demonstrated,  in  1899,  that  the  pale,  dropsical  and 
debilitated  condition  of  the  peasant  population  of  Porto  Rico, 
was  not  the  result  of  malaria,  starvation  and  other  suspected 
causes,  but  was  due  to  infestation  by  the  hookworm.  He  isolated 
the  parasite  from  the  dejections  of  the  natives,  and  showed 
conclusively  that  the  disease  was  amenable  to  preventive  and 
curative  therapy.  It  was  pointed  out  that  in  the  rural  districts 
of  Porto  Rico,  where  the  disease  is  most  common,  there  are 
practically  no  privies  and  the  soil  is  promiscuously  polluted 
with  fecal  matter,  as  many  as  fifty  larvae  having  been  known 
to  cling  to  a  bit  of  soil  the  size  of  a  pea.  The  larvae  penetrated 
the  sound  skin  of  the  barefooted  farm  laborers,  causing 
"ground  itch"  and  the  disease  was  also  conveyed  by  infected 
food  and  water.  The  economic  importance  of  hookworm  dis- 
ease is  apparent  when  it  is  considered  that  about  800,000  (90 
per  cent.)  of  the  laborers  in  the  coffee  and  sugar  plantations 
of  Porto  Rico  were  infected.  In  1902,  Prof.  Stiles  of  the 
Public  Health  Service  demonstrated  that  hookworm  disease 
was  prevalent  in  our  southern  states,  and  that  it  was  respons- 
ible for  great  economic  losses,  just  as  Dr.  Ashford  had  shown  it 
to  be  the  industrial  curse  of  Porto  Rico.  Indeed  much  of  the 
so-called  chronic  malaria,  ignorance,  poverty  and  general 
inefficiency  in  the  world's  tropical  and  subtropical  belts  could 
be  attributed  to  hookworm  infection.  The  number  of  victims 
in  the  United  States  has  been  estimated  at  2,000,000  and  the 
economic  loss  at  $100,000,000  per  year.     Dr.  Ashford's  cam- 


SCIENTIFIC    ACHIEVEMENTS  213 

paign  against  hookworm  disease  in  Porto  Rico  resulted  in  cure 
in  the  majority  of  cases,  led  the  way  to  similar  efforts  else- 
where, and  inspired  the  program  of  the  Rockefeller  Foun- 
dation for  world  wide  eradication  of  the  disease. 

YELLOW     FEVER     COMMISSION 

The  most  important  and  most  brilliant  piece  of  research 
work  during  this  period  was  accomplished  by  a  board 
appointed  on  the  recommendation  of  General  Sternberg  in 
May,  1900,  to  meet  at  Camp  Columbia,  Quemados,  Cuba,  for 
the  purpose  of  pursuing  scientific  investigations  of  the  infec- 
tious diseases  prevailing  in  the  Island  of  Cuba,  with  special 
reference  to  yellow  fever. 

The  board  was  composed  of  Surgeon  Walter  Reed,  Contract 
Surgeons  James  Carroll,  Aristides  Agramonte,  and  Jesse  W. 
Lazear,  U.  S.  Army.  By  a  series  of  painstaking  experiments 
it  was  demonstrated  that  the  virus  of  yellow  fever  is  trans- 
mitted by  a  certain  species  of  mosquito  (Stegomyia  fasciata), 
and  the  theory  that  the  disease  could  be  conveyed  in  fomites, 
or  that  it  was  contagious  in  the  ordinary  acceptance  of  the 
term  was  disproved  conclusively.  The  practical  application  of 
this  discovery  resulted  in  the  eradication  of  the  scourge  from 
Havana  by  Dr.  William  C.  Gorgas  (lately  Surgeon-General, 
U.  S.  Army),  and  in  the  sanitary  achievements  contributing 
to  the  successful  building  of  the  Panama  Canal. 

I  may  be  pardoned  for  calling  attention  to  the  fact,  that 
when  this  commission  was  appointed,  the  alleged  discovery  by 
Dr.  Giuseppe  Sanarelli  of  a  specific  Bacillus  icteroides  had 
been  confirmed  by  a  commission  of  the  Public  Health  and 
Marine  Hospital  Service.  Had  General  Sternberg  accepted 
this  as  conclusive,  we  might  still  be  periodically  visited  by  epi- 
demics of  yellow  fever  and  the  Panama  Canal  would  probably 
be  far  from  completion. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  detract  in  the  slightest  degree  from 
the  brilliant  work  of  Dr.  Walter  Reed  and  his  brave  associates 
of  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission,  but  as  a  loyal  wife  and  one 
familiar  with  the  research  work  of  my  lamented  husband  on 
the  etiology  of  yellow  fever,  which  culminated  in  the  find- 
ings of  the  Reed  board,  I  may  be  privileged  to  present  certain 
illuminating  facts.     This  is  all  the  more  important  since  the 


214  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

medical  profession  was  not  generally  informed  of  General 
Sternberg's  preliminary  work,  while  credit  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  commission  was  even  given  to  others,  as  is  shown 
by  a  letter  from  Dr.  William  H.  Welch  of  Johns  Hopkins 
Medical  School,  April  16,  1910,  in  which  he  says: 

"As  all  that  relates  to  the  history  and  work  of  this  com- 
mission is  highly  important,  permit  me  to  say  that  the  credit 
for  the  creation  of  this  commission  belongs  solely  to  General 
Sternberg,  who  had  previously  so  completely  exhausted  the 
purely  bacteriologic  study  of  yellow  fever  that  it  was  pos- 
sible for  the  commission  to  follow  the  new  direction  which 
proved  so  fruitful  in  results." 

Among  the  official  papers  left  by  my  husband,  I  find  the 
following : 

Surgeon-General's  Office, 
Washington,  May  23rd,  1900. 

To  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  Army: 

I  have  the  honor  to  recommend  that  Major  Walter  Reed, 
Surgeon,  U.  S.  Army,  and  Contract  Surgeon  James  Carroll, 
U.  S.  Army,  be  ordered  to  proceed  from  this  city  to  Camp 
Columbia,  Cuba,  reporting  their  arrival  and  instructions  to 
the  commanding  officer  of  the  post. 

I  also  recommend  the  organization  of  a  medical  board  with 
headquarters  at  Camp  Columbia  for  the  purpose  of  pursuing 
scientific  investigations  with  reference  to  the  infectious  dis- 
eases prevalent  on  the  Island  of  Cuba  and  especially  of  yellow 
fever. 

The  board  is  to  be  constituted  as  follows : 

Major  Walter  Reed,  Surgeon  U.  S.  Army;  Contract  Sur- 
geon James  Carroll,  U.  S.  Army,  and  Contract  Surgeons 
Aristides  Agramonte  and  Jesse  W.  Lazear,  U.  S.  Army.    .    .    . 

The  board  should  act  under  general  instructions  which  will 
be  communicated  to  Major  Reed  by  the  Surgeon-General  of 
the  Army. 

Very  respectfully, 

Geo.  M.  Sternberg, 
Surgeon-General,  U.  S.  Army. 

Major  Walter  Reed,  at  that  time  professor  of  bacteriology 
at  the  Army  Medical  School,  was  splendidly  equipped  for  the 
duty  and  perfectly  familiar  with  General  Sternberg's  pre- 
liminary work.  They  had  been  close  friends  for  years  and 
enjoyed  each  other's  confidence,  and  a  better  selection  could 


SCIENTIFIC    ACHIEVEMENTS  215 

not  have  been  made  in  the  personnel  of  the  board.  Dr. 
Aristides  Agramonte,  the  only  surviving  member  of  the  board, 
has  reviewed  the  various  steps  which  culminated  so  success- 
fully.   He  writes  regarding  the  preliminary  instructions : 

On  the  afternoon  of  June  25,  1900,  the  four  officers  met  for 
the  first  time  in  their  new  capacity  on  the  veranda  of  the 
officers'  quarters  at  Columbia  Barracks  Hospital.  We  were 
fully  appreciative  of  the  trust,  and  aware  of  the  responsibility 
placed  upon  us,  and  with  a  feeling  akin  to  reverence  heard 
the  instructions  which  Major  Reed  had  brought  from  the 
Surgeon  General  (Dr.  Sternberg).  They  comprised  the 
investigation  also  of  malaria,  leprosy,  and  unclassified  febrile 
conditions,  and  were  given  with  such  detail  and  precision  as 
only  a  man  of  General  Sternberg's  experience  and  knowledge 
in  such  matters  could  have  prepared.     .     .     . 

July  2  we  resumed  our  routine  investigations,  not  only  in 
Quemadoes,  where  the  disease  was  being  stamped  out,  but  also 
in  Havana  at  "Las  Animas"  Hospital  and  at  Military  Hospital 
No.  1,  where  my  laboratory  (the  division  laboratory)  was 
located.  There  was  no  scarcity  of  material  and  the  two 
members  who  until  then  had  never  seen  a  case  of  yellow  fever 
(Major  Reed  and  Dr.  Carroll)  had  ample  opportunities  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  many  details  of  its  clinical  picture 
which  escape  the  ordinary  practitioner.1 

The  official  history  of  this  board  records  the  fact  that  Dr. 
Carroll  and  Dr.  Lazear  volunteered  to  be  bitten  by  infected 
mosquitoes.  Dr.  Lazear  contracted  the  disease  and  died  after  a 
short  illness.  Dr.  Carroll  had  a  severe  attack  of  yellow  fever, 
a  slow  convalescence,  and  was  permanently  disabled  thereafter 
because  of  involvement  of  the  heart,  from  which  he  died 
some  years  later.  Major  Walter  Reed  died  from  appendicitis, 
Nov.  23,  1902,  while  Dr.  Aristides  Agramonte,  the  surviving 
member,  is  resident  in  Cuba,  where  he  is  engaged  in  scientific 
and  professional  work.  All  honor  and  glory  to  these  phy- 
sicians, to  Private  Kissinger  (the  first  volunteer)  and  others, 
who  in  the  interest  of  humanity  and  for  the  cause  of  science 
faced  danger  and  even  death,  in  order  to  make  a  demonstra- 
tion of  inestimable  value  to  mankind.  Many  of  the  details  of 
this  fruitful  work  are  recorded  in  several  papers  by  General 


1.  Scientific  Monthly,  Dec,  1915,  p.  216. 


216  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Sternberg,1  and  in  a  contribution  presented  posthumously  at 
the  Second  Pan-American  Scientific  Congress,  in  December, 
1915. 

Perhaps  the  best  summary  of  General  Sternberg's  rela- 
tion to  this  important  discovery  is  contained  in  the  following 
abstract  of  a  report  of  a  committee  composed  by  Drs.  G. 
Wythe  Cook,  George  M.  Kober,  and  D.  Olin  Leech  presented 
at  the  joint  memorial  meeting  of  the  Medical  Society  and  the 
Association  for  the  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  Jan.  19,  1916,  in  respect  for  General 
Sternberg. 

Dr.  Sternberg's  investigations  with  reference  to  the  etiology 
of  yellow  fever  date  back  to  1871,  although  his  search  for 
the  specific  organism  commenced  in  Havana  in  1879,  while 
a  member  of  the  Havana  Yellow  Fever  Commission,  and 
was  continued  for  about  ten  years.  During  this  time  he  twice 
returned  to  Havana  during  the  months  of  yellow  fever 
prevalence,  and  visited  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Vera  Cruz,  also  the 
town  of  Decatur,  Ala.,  during  the  epidemic  of  1888.  His  report,, 
published  at  the  conclusion  of  these  extended  investigations, 
shows  that  all  researches  to  that  date  had  failed  to  demonstrate 
the  specific  cause  of  yellow  fever.  He  showed  that  the  generally 
accepted  claims  of  Domingos  Freire,  of  Brazil,  to  have  dis- 
covered the  germ  of  this  disease — his  Cryptococcus  xanthogeni- 
cus — and  a  method  of  producing  immunity  by  inoculations,  had 
no  scientific  foundation.  He  also  showed  that  the  bacillus  of 
Gibier,  Carlos  Finlay's  Micrococcus  tetragenus  febris  flavae, 
and  the  various  microorganisms  encountered  by  himself  and 
by  other  investigators  bore  no  etiologic  relation  to  the  disease. 
At  the  International  Medical  Congress,  held  in  Berlin  in  August,. 
1890,  Dr.  Kober  translated  Dr.  Sternberg's  letter  to  Professor 
Hirsch,  giving  a  synopsis  of  his  work  and  stating  that  so  far  the 
specific  organism  of  yellow  fever  had  not  been  discovered.  It 
certainly  speaks  well  for  his  painstaking  work  that  even  now, 
when  we  know  that  the  infectious  agent  is  transmitted  through 
the  sting  of  a  mosquito,  and  the  search  has  narrowed  down  to 
the  body  of  this  insect,  it  has  not  been  isolated  and  neither  he 
nor  others  have  found  it,  probably  because  it  is  ultramicro- 
scopic. 

Having  exhausted  the  resources  at  his  command  in  the 
search  for  the  germ  of  yellow  fever  by  microscopical  examina- 
tion of  the  blood  tissues,  by  culture  methods  and  by  experiments 


1.  The  Transmission  of  Yellow  Fever,  Popular  Science  Monthly, 
July,  1901.  Sanitary  Problems  Connected  with  Construction  of  the- 
Panama  Canal,  North  American  Review,  September,  1902. 


SCIENTIFIC    ACHIEVEMENTS  217 

on  the  lower  animals,  he  felt  that  the  only  method  left  which 
offered  any  promise  of  success  was  that  of  direct  experiment 
on  men.  If  the  blood  of  a  yellow  fever  patient  contained  the 
specific  infectious  agent,  this  should  be  shown  by  inoculating  a 
nonimmune  individual  with  such  blood. 

This  line  of  research,  we  are  informed,  was  pointed  out 
by  Surgeon-General  Sternberg  to  Maj.  Walter  Reed,  chairman 
of  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission  in  1900,  as  was  also  the 
probability  that  it  would  ultimately  be  found  that  the  disease  is 
transmitted  from  man  to  man  by  an  intermediate  host.1 

In  justice  to  all  concerned  it  should  be  remembered  that 
when  this  commission  was  organized  by  General  Sternberg 
the  claim  of  the  distinguished  bacteriologist  Sanarelli  to  have 
demonstrated  the  etiologic  relation  of  his  Bacillus  icteroides  was 
generally  accepted,  and  had  been  upheld  by  two  medical  officers 
of  the  Public  Health  and  Marine  Hospital  Service,  sent  to 
Cuba  for  the  special  purpose  of  investigating  this  claim.  To 
General  Sternberg  it  appeared  impossible  that  a  bacillus,  which 
is  easily  demonstrated  under  the  microscope,  and  which  grows 
in  ordinary  culture  media,  could  have  escaped  his  observation 
during  his  extended  researches  if  it  were  in  fact  the  specific 
cause  of  yellow  fever.  The  only  possibility  of  such  causal 
connection  seems  to  him  to  depend  upon  the  identification  of 
Sanarelli's  bacillus  as  identical  with  a  certain  bacillus  found  by 
Sternberg  in  a  limited  number  of  cases  during  his  researches  in 
Havana.  A  comparison  of  cultures  of  the  micro-organisms 
made  by  Major  Reed  at  the  Army  Medical  Museum  and  also 
by  Dr.  Agramonte,2  1899-1900,  showed  that  they  were  not 
identical,  and  General  Sternberg,  being  satisfied  that  Sanarelli's 
bacillus  was  not  concerned  in  the  etiology  of  yellow  fever, 
organized  in  1900  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission,  with  Major 
Reed  as  chairman.    Major  Reed's  investigation  resulted  in  the 


1.  The  written  instructions  are  for  obvious  reasons  silent  upon  the 
subject  of  experimentation  upon  man.  Dr.  Aristides  Agramonte,  a 
member  of  the  Commission,  in  the  Scientific  Monthly  for  December, 
1915,  published  a  letter  from  Major  Reed  dated  May  25,  1900,  from 
which  we  quote  the  following:  "It  will  be  our  duty  under  verbal 
instructions  from  the  Surgeon-General  to  continue  the  investigation 
of  the  causation  of  yellow  fever." 

2.  Dr.  Agramonte  worked  on  this  problem  during  the  Santiago 
Campaign  in  1898  and  afterwards  with  Reed  and  Carroll  in  the  bac- 
teriologic  laboratory  of  the  Army  Medical  Museum.  He  was  ordered 
to  Havana  in  December,  1898,  with  instructions  from  General  Stern- 
berg and  power  to  do  all  that  might  be  necessary  to  clear  up  the 
problem.  In  1899,  Drs.  Geddings  and  Wardin  submitted  a  report 
affirming  that  Sanarelli's  bacillus  was  present  in  almost  all  the  cases, 
while  Dr.  Agramonte  denied  that  it  had  such  specific  character,  and 
showed  its  occurrence  in  cases  not  yellow  fever  He  continued  his 
researches  until  appointed  a  member  of  the  Commission. 


218  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

demonstration  that  in  yellow  fever  the  specific  infectious  agent 
is  present  in  the  blood  of  those  suffering  from  the  disease,  and 
that  the  usual  and  probably  only  method  of  transmission  of  the 
disease  is  through  the  bites  of  mosquitoes  of  the  genus 
Stegomyia.  This  brillant  demonstration  by  Reed  and  his  col- 
leagues has  furnished  the  necessary  basis  for  preventive  mea- 
sures which  have  been  applied  with  entire  success  in  the  yellow 
fever  zone,  and  the  practical  results  are  of  incalculable  value 
to  mankind. 

The  members  of  your  committee  do  not  consider  it  unfair 
to  the  memory  of  Major  Reed  and  his  colleagues,  when  they 
declare  that  much  of  the  success  achieved  was  rendered  pos- 
sible by  the  preliminary  work  of  Dr.  Sternberg,  who  had  elimi- 
nated numerous  errors  committed  by  others,  and  had  contested 
and  overthrown  the  claims  of  several  bacteriologists  for  the 
discovery  of  the  specific  organism.  His  conviction  that  all 
former  claims  were  unfounded,  or  remained  to  be  proven,  is 
clearly  evinced  by  the  appointment  of  a  commission  which  he 
personally  selected. 

It  may  be  truly  said  that  no  history  of  this  important  dis- 
covery is  complete  without  a  just  presentation  of  Sternberg's 
preliminary  work.  In  giving  due  credit  to  all  the  participants 
of  this  splendid  piece  of  research,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
all  of  his  work  was  of  the  highest  scientific  value,  and  his  daily 
contact  with  the  sick,  his  autopsies  and  bacteriologic  investiga- 
tions in  different  countries  and  climes  in  search  of  the  yellow 
fever  organism,  involved  at  least  the  same  risks  and  heroism 
displayed  by  members  of  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission. 

In  supporting  the  foregoing  statement  your  committee  sub- 
mits the  following  testimony  from  Dr.  Aristides  Agramonte, 
the  only  surviving  member  of  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission, 
who,  on  Jan.  3,  1916,  wrote  to  Dr.  Kober  as  follows:  "With 
regard  to  our  work  I  may  say  that  General  Sternberg's  instruc- 
tions to  Major  Reed  were  so  precise  yet  so  complete  that  they 
embraced  even  human  experimentation,  a  thing  until  then  con- 
sidered well  nigh  impossible,  and,  without  the  moral  support 
which  his  reputation  as  a  scientist  of  the  highest  order  and  his 
official  position  rendered  us,  I  am  sure  we  would  have  never 
undertaken  the  method  of  investigation  with  which  you  are 
familiar. 

I  feel  in  my  heart  that  in  the  greatest  achievement  of  modern 
medicine,  the  almost  total  extinction  of  yellow  fever  in  our 
hemisphere,  he  took  an  important  part  that  has  not  been  gen- 
erally recognized,  in  spite  of  your  pointing  it  out  in  your  speech 
(June  8,  1908). 

I  say  an  important  part  and  I  would  be  tempted  to  say  the 
most  important  part,  since  by  the  elimination  of  many  confusing 
and  erroneous  ideas  with  reference  to  the  cause  of  the  disease, 


SCIENTIFIC    ACHIEVEMENTS  219 

obtained  by  his  indefatigable  work  in  South  America  and 
Central  America,  he  cleared  the  way  for  us  who  came  after 
him,  laboring  in  the  same  field  of  investigation;  he  saved  us 
the  work,  and  thus  the  waste  of  effort  and  time  which  it  would 
have  entailed,  by  dealing  with  the  fallacies  in  vogue  during 
the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  elucidating  the  ques- 
tion of  yellow  fever  in  a  manner  nearly  complete." 

In  addition  to  this  just  and  beautiful  appreciation  of  Stern- 
berg's work  we  also  refer  to  the  following  resolution,  adopted 
Dec.  29,  1915,  in  which  the  section  of  public  health  and  medical 
science  of  the  Second  Pan-American  Congress  "conscious  of 
the  irreparable  loss  suffered  by  the  recent  death  of  one  of  the 
most  eminent  workers  in  the  field  of  etiology  and  preventive 
medicine,  a  pioneer  in  bacteriologic  investigation  in  America 

Resolved  to  express  its  profound  condolence  to  the  family 
of  the  late  General  George  M.  Sternberg,  and  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  in  whose  army  his  counsel  and 
labors  were  so  fruitful." 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  quote  from  a  letter  from  Hon.  Elihu 
Root,  one  time  Secretary  of  War,  under  whom  General  Stern- 
berg had  the  pleasure  of  serving.  This  tribute  was  published 
in  the  Congressional  Record,  Aug,  5,  1916,  fourteen  years 
after  the  retirement  of  General  Sternberg  from  active  service, 
and  it  forms  a  just  appreciation  of  the  labors  of  those  engaged 
in  preventive  medicine. 

Dear  Mrs.  Sternberg :  I  have  received  your  letter  of  March 
6,  and  I  respond  heartily  to  the  very  moderate  statements  which 
you  make  regarding  General  Sternberg's  merits  and  the  claims 
of  his  memory  to  recognition  by  Congress.  Senator  Gallinger's 
bill  does  not  rest  alone  upon  long  and  faithful  service,  includ- 
ing both  the  Civil  War  and  the  War  with  Spain,  but  chiefly 
and  distinctively  upon  the  great  part  which  General  Sternberg 
played  in  the  service  rendered  by  the  Medical  Corps  of  the 
Army  in  the  nine  years  during  which  he  was  Surgeon-General. 

The  practical  extirpation  of  yellow  fever  in  Cuba  and  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  and  the  development  of  methods  of  pre- 
ventive medicine  which  have  secured  the  phenomenal  freedom 
from  typhoid  in  recent  years  are  achievements  in  which  the 
Medical  Corps  of  the  Army  bore  a  great  part  and  won  the 
highest  distinction.  Congress  has  paid  great  honor  to  the  med- 
ical officers  who  in  the  field  and  in  the  camp  became  dis-< 
tinguished  for  their  part  in  this  extraordinary  work.  Let  no 
one  think,  however,  that  the  man  who  was  at  the  head  of  the 
corps  can  be  left  out  of  account  of  this  creditable  record. 
Such  things  do  not  happen  by  accident.     No  body  of  men 


220  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

accomplishes  what  our  medical  officers  accomplished  except 
in  response  to  leadership,  incitement,  encouragement,  oppor- 
tunity, motive  power,  coming  from  the  head  of  the  corps. 

The  Medical  Corps  accomplished  what  it  did  largely  because 
the  man  at  the  top  was  a  pioneer  in  bacteriology,  an  advance 
worker  in  protective  medicine,  and  had  the  enthusiasm  and 
devotion  through  which  science  wins  victories.  That  spirit 
communicated  itself  to  the  corps,  directed  its  energies,  made 
the  field  of  opportunity  for  scientific  effort,  kept  good  men  in  it, 
brought  good  men  into  it,  and  furnished  the  indispensable 
element  of  leadership  without  which  the  work  could  not  have 
been  done.  General  Sternberg  was  the  general  commanding  in 
that  campaign.  Congress  has  been  honoring  his  subordinates 
gratefully  and  properly.  It  is  all  wrong  that  there  should  be 
no  appreciation  for  the  commander.  I  have  not  received  yet 
the  copies  of  resolutions,  etc.,  which  you  have  sent,  but  I  do 
not  need  them  for  I  know  about  this  subject  myself  upon  the 
experience  of  four  years  and  a  half,  during  which  it  was  my 
business  to  observe  and  estimate  the  influences  working  for  and 
against  efficiency  in  the  War  Department. 

Dr.  J.  H.  Gallinger,  senator  from  New  Hampshire,  wrote 
under  date  of  March  18,  1916: 

I  have  read  Senator  Root's  letter  to  you  with  the  greatest 
interest.  What  he  says  about  General  Sternberg  is  the  simple 
truth  and  I  feel  sure  that  the  medical  profession  of  the  country 
would  endorse  every  word  of  it. 

Some  details  of  the  painstaking  methods  and  the  progress 
of  the  experimental  investigations  of  the  Yellow  Fever  Com- 
mission may  be  gleaned  from  the  following  letters  of  Major 
Reed  to  the  Surgeon-General : 

LETTERS     FROM     MAJOR     WALTER     REED 

My  Dear  General  Sternberg:  Your  favor  of  the  22d  inst. 
enclosing  a  letter  from  Dr.  Vaughan  has  been  received.     .     .     . 

We  arrived  at  this  Camp,  Monday  afternoon,  the  25th,  and 
were  soon  comfortably  provided  for  by  Dr.  Stark.  We  have 
already  organized  as  a  Board  and  have  begun  work.  Yester- 
day we  took  careful  cultures  from  two  cases  that  have  slightly 
passed  the  most  active  stage.  Lazear  has  cultures  from  three 
autopsies  to  be  worked  up.  This  afternoon  we  will  take  cultures 
from  the  blood  of  a  case  admitted  to  camp  hospital  last  evening 
and  will  continue  to  take  cultures  each  successive  day.  We 
can  get  material  from  another  case  at  the  detention  camp.  Upon 
my  recommendation,  Agramonte  appears  to  have  adopted  wise 
measures  here.  Lazear  and  I  will  go  probably  to  Cienfuegos 
next  week  to  look  into  an  epidemic  of  malarial  fever  amongst 


SCIENTIFIC    ACHIEVEMENTS  221 

Second  Infantry  there.  Our  baggage  (laboratory  equipment) 
did  not  arrive  on  Sedgwick.  Have  asked  General  Humphrey 
to  cable  Q.  M.  General  to  have  it  forwarded  by  Ward  Line  of 
steamers.    Please  assist  us  at  your  end  of  the  line. 

Sincerely  yours, 

Walter    Reed. 

I  have  been  unable  to  find  any  letters  from  Dr.  Reed  indi- 
cating the  progress  of  the  work  of  the  commission  between 
June  27,  and  October  22,  but  the  official  records  disclose  that 
three  cases  of  yellow  fever,  believed  to  be  the  direct  result  of 
mosquito  inoculations,  were  under  observation.  Two  of  the 
patients  were  members  of  the  board,  Drs.  Jesse  W.  Lazear  and 
James  Carroll,  who  voluntarily  submitted  themselves  to  experi- 
mentation. Dr.  Carroll  suffered  a  severe  attack  of  the  disease 
and  recovered,  but  Dr.  Lazear  fell  a  victim  in  the  cause  of 
science,  Sept.  25,  1900.  About  the  same  time,  nine  other 
volunteers  were  bitten  by  mosquitoes ;  in  these  cases  the  result 
was  negative.  The  results  of  the  investigations  by  the  Yellow 
Fever  Board  up  to  October  22,  were  presented  in  a  preliminary 
note  read  by  Dr.  Reed  at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Public 
Health  Association  at  Indianapolis. 

Indianapolis,  Ind.,  Oct.  22,  1900. 
Dear  General  Sternberg: 

Just  as  I  was  leaving  the  city,  I  dropped  you  a  postal  sug- 
gesting that  the  words  "with  his  full  consent"  be  erased  in 
the  cases  of  Carroll  (page  12)  and  Lazear  (page  20),  as  their 
absence  from  the  history  of  T.  C.  Y.  might  attract  attention 
and  lead  to  the  inference  that  his  inoculation  was  done  without 
his  consent.     .     .     . 

I  will,  also,  ask  that  you  will  turn  to  the  last  page  of  MSS. 
(22)  beginning  "since  we  here,"  etc.  Let  the  first  paragraph 
stand  as  it  is,  but  change  the  rest  as  follows : 

From  our  study  thus  far  of  yellow  fever,  we  draw  the  fol- 
lowing conclusions : 

1.  Bacillus  icteroides  (Sanarelli)  stands  in  no  causative  rela- 
tion to  yellow  fever,  but,  when  present,  should  be  considered 
as  a  secondary  invader  in  this  disease. 

2.  The  mosquito  serves  as  the  intermediate  host  for  the 
parasite  of  yellow  fever. 

Strike  out  the  remainder  "and  it  is  highly  probable  that" 
etc.,  as  this  is  merely  an  expression  of  opinion  which  may 


222  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

turn  out  to  be  right  or  wrong.  Future  observations  can  only 
determine  this  point — of  course,  conclusions  1  and  2  in  your 
copy  are  to  be  erased  entirely.     .     .     . 

Columbia  Barracks,  Quemados,  Cuba. 

Nov.  13,  1900. 
My  Dear  General  Sternberg: 

.  .  .  My  voyage  down  was  fairly  pleasant,  although 
I  was  as  usual  a  victim  to  sea  sickness.  I  have  been  very  busy 
trying  to  get  our  experimental  station  started.  Have  secured 
a  good  location  and  hope  to  have  the  detachment  go  out  on 
Thursday,  15th.  I  have  already  had  three  candidates  to  offer 
themselves  for  the  mosquito  inoculation  and  will  have  no  dif- 
ficulty in  getting  subjects  for  the  infected  bedding  and  clothing 
experiments.  (I  hope  that  you  will  not  mention  this  to  any- 
one). The  difficulty  before  us  now  will  be  largely  due  to  the 
marked  change  in  the  temperature.  It  is  now  62  ° — with  a 
strong  north-west  wind.  Has  been  cold  ever  since  I  arrived. 
As  the  result  of  this  past  week's  cool  weather,  cases  have  drop- 
ped from  100  to  76,  and  I  suppose  we  may  expect  a  still  further 
reduction  in  about  from  5  to  7  days.  If  it  were  only  August  1, 
everything  would  be  plain  sailing,  but  I  forsee  that  we  will  be 
much  handicapped  by  the  weather. 

We  will  have  our  small  experimental  buildings  heated,  if 
necessary,  and  in  that  way,  hope  to  counteract  the  outside 
temperature. 

Dr.  Carroll  arrived  this  afternoon  and  will  at  once  take  up 
the  work. 

Nov.  26,  1900. 

.  .  .  At  this  writing,  the  experimental  station  is  nearly 
completed  and  we  have  already  begun  on  our  observations. 
We  have  several  individuals,  American  and  Spanish,  willing  to 
take  bites  or  blood  injections,  and  we  hope  to  be  able  to  decide 
some  of  the  vexed  questions  in  the  etiology  of  this  disease. 
We  anticipate  considerable  trouble  concerning  the  rearing  of 
our  mosquitoes  during  this  cooler  weather.  Unless  we  can  keep 
them  alive  from  eighteen  to  twenty-four  days  after  the  infec- 
tion, we  could  not  expect  positive  results,  since  it  required 
twelve  to  sixteen  days  in  the  hotter  weather  of  August  to  enable 
them  to  convey  the  disease. 

Some  of  the  Havana  papers,  especially  La  Discussion  have 
abused  us  soundly  and  have  charged  us  with  all  kinds 
of  inhumanity  and  barbarity;  but  since  the  Spanish  consul,  a 
most  courteous  and  intelligent  gentleman,  assures  us  that  we 
shall  have  his  support,  as  long  as  we  do  not  use  minors  and 
the  individual  gives  his  written  consent,  I  am  not  at  all  dis- 
turbed by  these  newspaper  attacks.     .     .     . 


SCIENTIFIC    ACHIEVEMENTS  223 

Dec.  14,  1900. 
Within  three  weeks  of  the  establishment  of  our  experi- 
mental station,  I  am  able  to  report  two  cases  of  yellow  fever 
brought  about  by  the  bites  of  infected  mosquitoes — one  occur- 
ring suddenly  at  11 :  30  p.  m.,  December  8,  and  the  second  9 :  30 
p.  m.,  December  12.  Both  cases  have  been  seen  and  carefully 
examined  by  the  board  of  experts,  consisting  of  Drs.  Guiteras, 
Finlay,  Gorgas  and  Albertini,  and  both  have  been  pronounced 
to  be  unmistakable  cases  of  yellow  fever.  I  thought  it  best 
to  have  these  gentlemen  of  acknowledged  experience  see  all 
of  our  cases.  This  they  have  gladly  done,  visiting  our  first  case 
on  the  9th,  11th,  and  again  today.  Although  our  second  case 
is  only  in  his  second  day,  the  symptoms  are  unmistakable.  A 
third  case  bitten  on  the  11th  at  4:30  p.  m.,  began  to  sicken 
yesterday  afternoon,  with  some  fever  and  headache,  and  has, 
today,  developed  a  temperature  of  100.8°.  I  think  that  he  will 
be  removed  early  tomorrow  morning,  as  his  symptoms  point 
plainly  in  that  direction.  Concerning  a  fourth  case,  bitten  three 
days  ago,  it  is  as  yet  too  early  to  pronounce  an  opinion.  Our 
three  nonimmunes  have  already  passed  fourteen  nights  in  a 
house  horribly  infected  with  clothing  and  bedding  without 
showing  any  symptoms  whatever.  Perhaps  it  is  yet  too  early  to 
pronounce  an  opinion  as  to  the  probability  of  their  escape. 
Taken  altogether,  we  feel  very  much  pleased  with  our  results, 
and  believe  that,  with  your  kind  permission,  we  should  present  a 
supplementary  note  to  the  Pan-American  Congress  in  February 
next. 

I  am  glad  that  our  first  case,  now  in  his  sixth  day,  is  doing 
very  well.  It  is  too  early  to  give  a  prognosis  in  our  second 
case.  In  view  of  these  results,  I  would  like  to  know  whether 
you  consider  it  necessary  that  we  should  try  blood  injections, 
as  you  suggested  when  I  last  saw  you.  Any  other  suggestions 
that  you  may  make,  will  be  much  appreciated. 

Dec.  16,  1900. 
I  cabled  you  again,  today,  as  I  thought  that  you  would  be 
pleased  to  hear  that  success  was  still  attending  our  efforts. 
Our  fourth  case  sickened  yesterday  afternoon  at  2  :30  o'clock, 
and  at  9  p.  m.,  had  a  temperature  of  104.2  °.  Four  cases  out  of 
five  inoculations  is  quite  satisfactory,  we  think.  This  morning 
Drs.  Guiteras,  Finlay  and  Albertini  were  again  here  to  see  our 
third  and  fourth  cases.  Like  the  first  two,  the  diagnosis  was 
very  plain  and  hence  they  very  promptly  pronounced  the  cases 
to  be  yellow  fever,  our  first  three  we  consider  out  of  danger. 
The  last  man  is  still  quite  sick.  Our  third  case  was  a  very 
mild  one.  Although  coming  down  four  and  one-half  hours 
within  the  usual  period  of  incubation — five  days — he  could  have 
passed  quarantine  on  the  morning  of  his  sixth  day,  and  would 


224  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

have  been  the  focus  of  one  of  those  epidemics  ascribed  to 
infected  bedding,  or  the  unpacking  of  trunk.  For  this  reason, 
it  is,  to  me,  the  most  interesting  case  of  the  series.  This  week  I 
hope  to  loose  infected  mosquitoes  in  our  building  No.  2,  my 
intention  being  to  demonstrate  conclusively  how  a  building 
becomes  infected.  Of  course,  every  precaution  has  been  taken 
to  prevent  the  escape  of  these  insects.  My  control  subjects 
will  keep  on  the  uninfected  side  of  the  building,  being  pro- 
tected by  a  fine  wire-screen  partition  but  breathing  the  same 
atmosphere.  I  have  to  ask  as  a  special  favor  that  Acting  Assist- 
ant Surgeon  R.  P.  Cooke,  who  so  courageously  volunteered 
to  take  charge  of  affairs  in  our  horribly  infected  clothing  build- 
ing No.  1,  may  not  have  his  contract  annulled,  but  may  be  sent 
to  duty  in  the  Philippines,  if  he  can  not  remain  in  Cuba.  His 
interest  in  the  work  deserves,  I  think,  this  consideration  from 
the  Department. 
The  search  for  the  parasite  will  be  next  in  order. 

Dec.  22,  1900. 

I  write  to  request  that  Dr.  McConnell,  of  the  Museum,  may 
be  sent  down  to  join  us  on  the  next  transport  leaving  New 
York.  I  would  like  to  have  him  make  drawings  of  the  mosquito 
and  larvae  from  live  specimens.  There  is  some  other  work 
here  which  he  could  also  do.  He  should  bring  camera  lucida 
and  suitable  paper  for  doing  this  work. 

I  would  like  also  to  be  made  a  delegate  to  the  Pan-American 
Congress,  if  you  approve  of  our  presenting  a  supplementary 
note  at  this  meeting. 

Jan.  1,  1901. 
I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  informing  me  that  I  would  be 
detailed  as  a  delegate  to  the  Pan-American  Congress,  and  thank 
you  for  the  same.  I  am  sure  that  you  will  be  interested  to  know 
that  our  attempt  to  infect  a  new  building  by  means  of  con- 
taminated mosquitoes  has  met  with  complete  success.  The 
insects  were  released  in  this  building  during  the  afternoon  of 
December  21.  A  few  minutes  thereafter  I  permitted  a  non- 
immune to  enter  and  lie  on  a  bed  provided  for  the  purpose.  I, 
with  other  nonimmunes,  stood  in  one  end  of  the  room,  pro- 
tected, of  course,  by  a  wire  screen  partition.  The  subject 
remained  30  minutes  and  was  bitten  by  several  insects.  He 
again  entered  at  4  p.  m.  and  remained  15  minutes;  and  again 
the  next  afternoon  (22d)  remaining  15  minutes.  During  each 
of  which  times,  he  was  bitten  by  one  or  more  insects.  Four 
days  later  (December  25),  at  9  a.  m.,  he  felt  badly  and  had 
fever  99.6.  At  noon,  a  slight  chill  with  rising  temperature, 
100.4 — backache,  headache,  suffused  face  and  infected  eyes — 
at  9  p.  m.,  temperature  104.2 — albumen  on  second  evening, 


SCIENTIFIC    ACHIEVEMENTS  225 

jaundice  of  eyes,  etc. — typical  symptoms  of  yellow  fever,  the 
diagnosis  being  confirmed  by  board  of  experts.  His  tempera- 
ture fell  to  normal  yesterday,  sixth  day,  and  patient  will  make  a 
good  recovery.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  the  two  non- 
immunes who  have  slept  each  night  in  the  noninfected  end  of 
the  same  room,  only  protected  by  a  wire  screen  partition,  are 
still  well  and  healthy.  Nothing  could  possibly  be  more  strik- 
ing than  this  observation.  We  shall  make  but  few  more  experi- 
ments— one  blood  injection  has  given  no  result — we  will  make 
two  others,  if  I  can  find  the  cases.  I  consider  it  now  very 
important  to  find  if  possible  the  parasite  in  the  body  of  the 
mosquito.  We  have  preserved  a  number  of  insects  of  various 
ages  for  paraffin  sectioning,  when  we  return  to  Washington.  I 
will,  therefore,  thank  you  very  much  if  you  will  have  the 
necessary  order  issued  relieving  us  from  duty  at  this  post  and 
authorizing  our  return  to  our  proper  station,  so  that  we  can 
start  back  immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Pan- 
American  Congress.  I  will  request  General  Wood  to  retain 
the  buildings  at  our  camp  site,  so  that,  if  necessary,  we  could 
resume  our  observations  when  the  epidemic  year  begins  again. 
Dr.  Cooke's  services  at  the  Camp  are  now  no  longer  needed. 
With  greetings  of  the  New  Year, 

Walter  Reed. 
P.  S. :    No  results  as  yet  in  infected  clothing  building.    Non- 
immunes sleeping  every  night  in  yellow  fever  beds. 

Jan.  13,  1901. 

Your  letter  of  January  8,  was  received  yesterday.  I  have 
made  Carroll  acquainted  with  the  contents  of  your  letter,  and 
he  wishes  me  to  convey  to  you  his  sincere  thanks  for  the  honor 
which  you  propose  to  confer  upon  him.  He  will  gladly  remain 
in  Cuba  for  a  while,  as  you  suggest. 

It  occurs  to  me  that  the  passage  of  the  Army  Bill  will 
promptly  promote  Major  Kean  to  a  majority  in  the  regular 
Corps,  and  leave  a  vacancy  for  Carroll's  promotion.  If,  how- 
ever, the  new  Army  Bill  limits  Surgeons  of  Volunteers  to  those 
who  serve  in  the  Philippines,  Carroll  would  not  care  to  go  there. 
If  it  could  be  so  arranged  that  he  could  return  to  Washington 
by  April  1, 1  would  be  much  gratified.  I  would  suggest  that  the 
order  for  my  own  return  and  Steward  Neate's  be  issued  soon, 
that  we  could  get  our  outfit  on  the  transport  ahead  of  us,  and 
thus  not  be  compelled  to  wait  several  weeks  for  important 
material.  We  could  then  leave  immediately  after  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  Pan-American  Congress. 

I  feel  certain  that  you  will  be  much  interested  in  the  result 
from  our  blood  injections.  I  think  that  I  mentioned,  in  a 
letter,  one  case  that  had  received  a  blood  injection  made  on  the 
first  day  of  the  disease.    The  result  was  negative  in  this  case, 


226  GEORGE    M.    STERXBERG 

unless  we  regard  slight  headache  and  general  muscular  sore- 
ness, on  the  eighth  and  ninth  days,  as  some  manifestations  of 
an  attempt  at  infection.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  same 
individual  has  since  resisted  the  bite  of  mosquitoes  that  con- 
veyed a  good  typical  case  of  yellow  fever  to  another  non- 
immune. I  am  inclined,  therefore,  in  the  light  of  other  injec- 
tions, to  look  upon  him  as  one  having  a  natural  immunity  to 
the  disease. 

Having  succeeded  in  getting  hold  of  two  hospital  corps  men, 
who  were  willing  to  take  blood  injections,  we  first  infected  a 
Spaniard  by  the  bite  of  mosquitoes.  During  his  primary  parox- 
ysms (first  day)  we  injected  2  c.c.  of  blood  from  a  vein  at 
the  elbow  subcutaneously  in  one  of  our  subjects.  In  just  four 
days,  lacking  two  hours,  he  developed  an  attack  of  yellow  fever. 
From  his  vein,  at  the  end  of  twelve  hours  (temperature 
103.4°),  we  took  1.5  c.c.  of  blood  and  injected  subcutaneously 
into  second  subject,  resulting  in  a  pretty  infection  in  two  days, 
twelve  hours.  Much  to  my  regret  we  had  no  one  for  another 
injection.  The  parasite  is  therefore  in  the  general  circulation, 
and  yellow  fever  thus  follows  exactly  the  modes  of  convey- 
ance found  in  malarial  fever.  I  have  already  saturated  towels 
with  blood  of  these  cases  and  have  put  them  in  our  infected 
clothing  house.  Probably  nothing  will  come  of  this  attempt  to 
convey  infection.  We  now  have  six  successes  out  of  seven 
attempted  by  means  of  mosquito  bites  (85.71  per  cent.). 

McConnell  is  here  at  work. 

Jan.  27,  1901. 

As  McConnell  has  completed  his  drawings  here,  I  have  con- 
cluded to  let  him  go  on  transport  Rawlins  which  leaves  today 
instead  of  waiting  for  the  next  boat.  He  carries  with  him  a 
copy  of  our  additional  note  with  charts.  I  hope  that  Dr.  Gould 
this  time  will  return  proofs  to  you  so  that  corrections  can  be 
made  before  final  publication.  The  article  would  be  in  time, 
if  it  appeared  about  February  10-15.  I  trust  that  what  I  have 
written  may  meet  with  your  approval.  I  hope  to  leave  here 
on  Ward  Line  steamer  leaving  Havana,  February  9.  Have  no 
order  yet  for  Neate's  relief  from  this  station,  but  trust  that  it 
will  come  soon  as  well  as  order  relieving  Private  Andrus  and 
assigning  him  to  Army  Medical  School  laboratory.  I  will  ask 
you  to  make  a  slight  change  in  the  wording  of  our  eighth  con- 
clusion, so  that  the  word  "contaminated"  be  inserted  before  the 
word  mosquitoes — so  that  it  will  read  as  follows :  "A  house 
may  be  said  to  be  infected  with  yellow  fever  only  when  there 
are  present  within  its  walls  contaminated  mosquitoes  capable 
of  conveying  the  parasite  of  this  disease."  I  will,  also,  ask  that 
you  change  the  relative  position  of  conclusions  No.  9  and  10, 
so  that  No.  9  will  come  last. 


SCIENTIFIC    ACHIEVEMENTS  227 

Jan.  31,  1901. 

I  cabled  to  you  this  afternoon,  requesting  that  you  delay 
publication  of  our  additional  note  until  you  receive  the  copy 
which  I  shall  mail  in  the  morning.  I  have  inserted  a  footnote 
of  importance  which  I  thought  should  accompany  the  note 
when  published.  Although  our  immune  (mosquito  made) 
cases,  four  in  number,  have  shown  no  symptoms  whatever, 
I  am  very  uneasy  about  the  nonimmune  soldier  who  got  the 
same  quantity  of  blood  (1  c.c.)  at  the  same  time.  He  seems 
to  have  acquired  a  very  serious  infection,  his  temperature  run- 
ning along  the  104°  line  now  for  three  days.  Albumen  appeared 
at  the  end  of  eighteen  hours,  but  is  not  excessive.  Should  he 
die,  I  shall  regret  that  I  ever  undertook  this  work.  The 
responsibility  for  the  life  of  a  human  being  weighs  upon  me 
very  heavily  just  at  present,  and  I  am  dreadfully  melancholic. 
Everything  is  being  done  for  him  that  we  know  how  to  do. 

This  afternoon  the  Mexican  delegates  were  here  to  see  our 
cases  and  afterwards  visited  the  experimental  camp.  They 
seemed  to  be  wonderfully  impressed  with  what  they  heard  and 
saw.  Please  substitute  the  copy  which  I  shall  forward  tomor- 
row for  the  copy  McConnell  brought.  I  will  ask  that  McCon- 
nell  change  the  period  of  incubation  on  chart  No.  11  to  five 
days,  seventeen  hours.  Although  the  patient  took  to  bed,  com- 
plaining of  headache,  etc.,  at  the  end  of  four  days,  twenty 
hours,  his  febrile  paroxysm  did  not  begin  till  five  days  and 
seventeen  hours.  If  you  think  that  the  disease  begins  with 
the  advent  of  premonitory  symptoms,  you  can  let  it  stand  as 
at  present.  I  leave  that  to  you  entirely.  I  shall  hope  to  leave 
on  the  McPherson  about  February  8. 
Sincerely  yours, 

Walter    Reed. 


CHAPTER     SIXTEEN 
INSPECTION    TOUR    IN    PHILIPPINE    ISLANDS 

President  McKinley  desired  to  obtain  full  information  in 
regard  to  civil,  military  and  health  conditions  in  the  Philippine 
Islands.  He  therefore  advised  a  personal  inspection  by  trusted 
staff  officers  and  Representatives  of  Congress  of  existing  con- 
ditions on  the  Islands.  The  president  was  especially  anxious 
about  the  health  of  the  army  of  occupation  and  naturally  pre- 
ferred that  General  Sternberg  should  represent  the  Medical 
Department  on  this  inspection  tour. 

One  morning  soon  after  this  request  from  the  President, 
General  Sternberg  was  summoned  to  give  medical  advice  in 
regard  to  Mrs.  McKinley.  After  his  professional  visit  the  con- 
versation turned  on  the  proposed  journey  to  the  Philippine 
Islands.  The  President  asked  if  I  was  preparing  to  accompany 
my  husband  on  the  trip.  General  Sternberg  replied  he  thought 
not;  that  I  was  planning  to  spend  the  time  of  his  absence  with 
my  mother.  The  President  intimated  that  he  desired  to  see 
me,  and  I  appeared  at  the  White  House  in  response  to  the 
invitation.  Cordially  greeting  me  the  President  solicitously 
inquired  if  I  was  going  to  the  Philippines  with  my  husband.  I 
told  him  of  my  plan  to  go  to  the  home  of  my  childhood.  He 
looked  at  me  with  expressive  eyes,  and  said,  "Your  husband  is 
going  on  a  long,  lonely  trip  and  he  will  need  you  for  company. 
Won't  you  go?"  All  of  which  led  to  my  determination  to 
accompany  General  Sternberg  on  his  inspection  tour. 

Our  journey  to  the  Philippines  lasted  nearly  four  months. 
We  sailed  from  San  Francisco  on  the  transport  General  Han- 
cock, June  23,  1901.  Owing  to  orders  received  by  the  officers 
in  charge  of  the  General  Hancock  just  before  the  transport 
sailed,  our  route  was  changed,  and  we  made  the  quickest  trip 
that  had  been  recorded  by  any  government  transport  up  to  that 
date.  But  much  to  our  regret,  we  missed  Honolulu.  When 
we  crossed  the  180th  meridian,  we  naturally  lost  a  day,  and  by 
■  peculiar  coincidence  this  was  July  4,  not  an  inconsequential  loss 
for  patriotic  Americans.  Near  the  coast  of  Japan  one  of  our 
lady  passengers,  who  had  previously  been  to  China  and  Japan, 


PHILIPPINE    ISLANDS  229 

became  very  nervous  in  regard  to  typhoons.  She  was  in  con- 
stant dread  of  such  an  encounter.  In  the  gray  dawn  of  a  com- 
ing day,  on  looking  from  the  port  hole  of  her  cabin,  she  saw 
a  black  funnel-shaped  object  looming  on  the  horizon,  present- 
ing to  her  excited  imagination  the  exact  appearance  of  the 
dreaded  typhoon.  It  proved  to  be  nothing  more  than  two  rock 
islands  with  high  stony  peaks,  then  used  by  Japan  as  a  sta- 
tion for  a  penal  colony. 

MANILA 

These  islands  are  the  first  land  seen  from  ships  sailing  to 
Manila  by  the  northern  route.  We  soon  entered  the  China  Sea, 
and  later  the  monotony  of  the  journey  was  broken  by  the  view 
of  the  Island  of  Formosa;  next  by  the  coast  of  Luzon,  along 
which  we  sailed  for  more  than  twenty-four  hours  before  reach- 
ing Manila.  On  entering  Manila  Bay  we  passed  Corregidor 
Island,  towering  600  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  the 
site  of  a  fine  convalescent  hospital.  To  our  right  lay  the  his- 
toric naval  station  of  Cavite  and  the  wrecks  of  several  Spanish 
ships  of  war,  which  had  been  destroyed  at  the  time  of  Admiral 
Dewey's  victory.  Manila  is  built  on  low  land,  and  from  the 
deck  of  the  ship  we  could  discern  only  the  larger  buildings,  the 
churches  and  other  prominent  points.  At  this  date  there  was 
no  breakwater  in  the  harbor  and  the  ship  was  obliged  to  anchor 
some  miles  from  shore.  The  General  Hancock  was  soon 
boarded  by  General  Chaffee  and  his  staff,  who  came  to  welcome 
the  Adjutant-General  and  his  staff,  the  Surgeon-General,  the 
Commissary-General,  and  other  general  officers.  A  steam 
launch  from  the  hospital  ship  Relief  fortuitously  came  along- 
side, in  command  of  Major  Perley,  Medical  Corps.  We  had 
known  him  at  home,  and  he  offered  the  hospitality  of  his  ship, 
assuring  us  we  would  be  much  more  comfortable  on  board  the 
Relief  than  at  a  hotel  on  shore. 

I  visited  every  part  of  the  beautiful,  clean,  white  ship,  and 
I  did  not  wonder  that  medical  officers  of  the  foreign  armies  in 
Chinese  waters  had  agreed  that  she  was  the  finest  and  most 
completely  equipped  hospital  ship  then  in  existence.  We 
remained  on  the  Relief  for  a  day  or  two,  General  Sternberg 
making  the  trip  to  Manila  in  the  steam  launch.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  second  day,  General  Sternberg  went  to  make  a  call 


230  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

on  his  brother,  Major  Theodore  Sternberg,  in  command  of  the 
Quartermaster's  steamer  Dix,  at  anchor  not  far  away.  A  little 
later  as  I  was  looking  over  the  bay,  I  noticed  the  launch  coming 
hastily  back  to  the  Relief.  General  Sternberg  told  me  the 
typhoon  signal  was  being  displayed,  and  we  must  go  ashore. 
We  were  quickly  on  our  way  in  the  steam  launch,  but  I  thought 
we  should  be  swamped  before  we  reached  the  shore. 

Luzon  is  the  most  northern,  as  well  as  the  largest  and  most 
important  island  in  the  Philippine  group,  on  the  southwest  coast 
of  which  lies  Manila,  founded  about  350  years  ago  (1571). 
Its  architecture  is  not  imposing,  a  factor  not  unrelated  to  the 
recurring  earthquakes.  The  population  of  the  city  in  1901  was 
about  300,000;  its  shipping  wharves  were  filled  with  hemp, 
sugar,  tobacco,  cigars,  indigo,  and  coffee,  with  a  large  quan- 
tity of  cotton  goods. 

About  a  week  after  our  arrival  we  sailed  around  the  south- 
ern islands  on  the  transport  Law  ton.  The  bay  was  very  choppy 
on  the  morning  of  our  departure,  and  the  hospital  tug  New 
York,  assigned  to  take  us  to  the  Lawton,  could  not  hazard  the 
trip.  We  were,  therefore,  taken  down  the  Pasig  River  to  the 
Quartermaster's  wharf  and  transferred  to  a  much  larger  craft. 
As  soon  as  we  were  on  the  bay,  the  waves  began  to  break  over 
the  bow  of  our  boat  and  the  deck  was  constantly  awash.  By 
the  time  we  reached  the  transport,  most  of  the  passengers  were 
quite  saturated.  But  the  real  excitement  came  when  we 
attempted  to  board  the  Lawton.  Men  were  on  the  platform 
of  the  gangway  to  assist  the  ladies,  encouraging  them  to  jump 
at  the  opportune  moment  when  our  boat  was  on  the  crest  of  a 
wave  and  not  too  far  away  from  helping  hands.  There  were 
many  days  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  when  it  was  impos- 
sible to  board  a  vessel  at  anchor  in  the  bay.  At  present,  there 
is  an  extensive  and  substantial  breakwater  that  protects  ships 
at  anchor  and  enables  passengers  to  board  with  less  fear  and 
discomfort. 

ILOILO 

On  leaving  the  bay  we  sailed  in  a  southerly  direction  and 
were  soon  between  the  islands  of  Luzon  and  Mindora.  During 
our  whole  trip  we  were  never  out  of  sight  of  land ;  on  one  of 


PHILIPPINE    ISLANDS  231 

the  islands  we  could  clearly  make  out  the  trees  on  the  hill- 
sides and  occasionally  native  villages  and  plantation  houses. 
We  hoped  to  see  the  volcano  Taal  in  eruption,  but  in  this  we 
were  disappointed.  Our  first  stop  was  at  Iloilo,  on  the  island 
of  Panay,  the  inhabitants  of  which  are  known  as  Visayans. 
They  differ  from  their  northern  and  southern  neighbors  in 
many  respects,  having  made  less  progress  in  civilization  and 
being  less  cheerful,  more  quiet  and  sullen  than  the  Tagalos,  the 
principal  inhabitants  of  Luzon.  The  principal  industry  is 
weaving;  the  women  generally  make  most  beautiful  fabrics. 
Almost  every  house  contains  one  or  more  hand  looms  and  such 
exquisite  fabrics  as  pena  and  jusi  are  here  woven.  Pefia  is 
made  from  fiber  of  a  plant  resembling  the  pine-apple  leaf,  and 
is  of  such  delicate  texture  that  the  doors  and  windows  are  kept 
closed  during  the  process  of  weaving,  lest  a  light  puff  of  wind 
break  or  entangle  the  delicate  filaments.  Jusi,  made  from  raw 
silk,  all  the  material  for  ordinary  clothing,  quantities  of  coarse 
sacking  for  the  transportation  of  the  sugar  crop,  and  beautiful 
sleeping  mats,  so  largely  used  by  the  natives  in  their  homes, 
are  among  the  textiles  manufactured  by  the  Visayans.  The 
natives  are  also  very  skilful  in  making  bolos  and  other  weapons 
of  war,  for  which  purpose  they  preserve  all  pieces  of  iron, 
from  which  they  fashion  good  weapons  and  implements, 
tempering  these  by  processes  closely  resembling  those  employed 
in  more  civilized  countries.  They  have  been  forced  to  defend 
themselves  for  centuries  against  the  attacks  of  their  Mohamme- 
dan neighbors  on  the  southern  islands,  and  when  well  led 
they  have  always  been  able  to  make  a  good  defense  against 
Moro  invaders. 

From  Iloilo,  we  drove  to  Molo,  the  center  of  the  sugar 
industry,  and  a  place  of  much  wealth.  The  main  object  of 
our  visit  was  the  church,  which  is  quite  famous  in  these  parts 
for  a  beautiful  hanging  lamp,  its  pictures  and  frescoed  ceil- 
ings. These  are  supposed  to  be  of  a  high  order  of  merit  and 
were  done  by  a  Filipino  youth — born  in  this  vicinity.  Talent 
for  art  is  much  more  rare  among  the  Filipinos  than  that  for 
music.  Nearly  every  town  of  any  size  has  its  brass  band,  and 
very  many  of  the  natives  play  remarkably  well  on  the  piano 
and  on  stringed  instruments. 


232  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

CEBU     AND     MORO     COUNTRY 

Next  in  rank  of  Philippine  ports  is  Cebu,  the  capital  city 
of  the  island  of  the  same  name.  The  city  dates  to  1570  (one 
year  before  the  foundation  of  Manila),  is  the  center  of  the 
hemp  industry,  and  does  a  flourishing  trade  in  hemp  and  sugar. 
I  had  seen  hemp  growing  in  earlier  days,  and  I  thought  I 
should  see  familiar  sights.  Not  so,  however,  for  the  hemp 
grown  in  the  Philippines  belongs  to  another  family,  a  plant 
that  closely  resembles  the  banana.  But  the  most  attractive  of 
all  the  cities  on  our  trip  was  Zamboango  on  the  island  of  Min- 
danao. This,  the  second  largest  island  in  the  Philippines,  is 
inhabited  principally  by  Moros,  claimed  by  the  Sultan  of  Jolo 
as  his  subjects,  although  his  control  is  not  very  well  established. 
The  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  hospital  came  out  to  the  ship  in 
a  launch  and  took  General  Sternberg  and  myself  to  his 
quarters  on  shore.  The  Surgeon-General  was  greatly  pleased 
with  the  results  of  his  inspection  for  he  found  things  in  a  very 
satisfactory  condition.  The  building  occupied  as  the  hospital 
was  the  surgeon's  quarters  during  the  occupation  of  Zam- 
boango by  the  Spanish  troops,  the  old  Spanish  hospital  being 
at  the  time  of  our  visit  occupied  as  barracks  by  our  troops. 

We  saw  the  carabao,  the  patient  and  much  loved  beast  of 
burden  of  the  Philippines,  drawing  the  plows  in  the  deep  mud 
of  the  paddy  fields,  while  in  other  sections  men  and  women 
were  busy  planting  rice.  There  were  large  groves  of  coconut 
palms  nearby,  and  in  many  of  the  gardens  huge  piles  of  the 
green  nuts  were  lying.  These  are  broken  open  and  the  dried 
meat  constitutes  the  copra  of  commerce,  one  of  the  principal 
products  of  the  tropical  islands.  The  natives  live  in  huts  built 
on  high  supports  of  a  framework  of  bamboo,  thatched  with 
leaves  of  the  nipa  palm.  The  floors  are  from  ten  to  twelve  feet 
above  ground,  and  quite  open  to  encourage  free  circulation  of 
air.  Housekeeping  is  reduced  to  its  simplest  forms  and  the 
complete  culinary  equipment  of  a  Filipina  consists  of  a  few 
earthen  pots,  and  one  or  two  iron  vessels.  The  dress  worn  by 
the  Moros  is  quite  distinct  from  that  of  the  Visayans  and 
Tagalos.  The  men  wear  closely  fitting  calico  trousers,  with  gay, 
gaudy  sashes  about  their  waists.  Picturesque  ornaments  adorn 
their  hair,  which  is  covered  by  a  turban.  Many  of  them  file 
their  teeth,  and  nearly  all  chew  the  betel,  a  habit  which  in  time 


PHILIPPINE    ISLANDS  233 

stains  the  teeth  a  deep  black.  Some  students  were  playing  ball 
in  the  public  square ;  they  wore  silk  trousers  with  bright  silk 
scarfs  about  the  waist.  The  ball  was  made  of  thin  strips  of 
bamboo,  shaped  much  like  our  base  ball  and  evidently  very 
elastic. 

JOLO 

We  sailed  for  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande  de  Mindanao, 
and  continued  up  the  river  to  Cotta-Batto  in  a  steam  launch, 
with  two  life  boats  in  tow,  returning  the  same  evening.  On  the 
following  morning  our  steamer  carried  us  where  few  Ameri- 
can women  had  been  before:  to  the  harbor  of  Jolo,  on  the 
island  of  Sulu,  where  the  sultan  was  at  the  time  carrying  on 
a  war  against  two  of  his  datos.  We  were  taken  to  the  home 
of  the  first  secretary  to  the  Sultan,  an  old  man  whose  appear- 
ance was  not  at  all  prepossessing.  His  numerous  wives  were 
congregated  in  one  large  room,  some  of  them  displaying 
embroideries  and  native  work  for  sale.  It  was  announced  that 
the  sultan  wished  to  pay  his  respects  to  General  Corbin  and 
the  other  officers  accompanying  him.  The  sultan's  retinue  was 
so  large  that  a  number  were  unable  to  get  into  the  conference 
room,  and  they  remained  standing  at  the  door  and  on  the 
stairway.  They  were  a  picturesque  looking  lot.  The  sultan 
himself  was  a  small  man,  apparently  not  more  than  40  years 
of  age,  with  a  bright  face  and  a  keen  eye.  He  did  not  speak 
any  language  but  his  own,  but  brought  with  him  an  interpreter. 
The  sultan  apologized  for  his  personal  appearance,  saying  he 
was  in  his  field  costume  when  he  heard  of  the  arrival  of  the 
American  officers,  and  he  had  not  taken  time  to  change  his 
dress.  His  costume  consisted  of  the  tightly  fitting  calico 
trousers  and  the  bright  sash  common  in  the  Moro  country. 

BAGUIO,     BENGUET 

On  our  return  to  Manila,  General  Sternberg  made  final 
arrangements  for  his  trip  to  Baguio,  Benguet.  Reports  had 
reached  Washington  of  the  desirability  of  establishing  in  that 
locality  a  health  resort  for  officers  and  soldiers  suffering  from 
the  effects  of  the  tropical  climate.  The  subject  having  been 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  Hon.  Elihu 
Root,  and  a  full  report  of  the  exact  conditions  on  this  moun- 
tain being  desired,  General  Sternberg  was  instructed  to  make 
a  personal  investigation.    At  that  date  this  trip  was  known  to 


234  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

be  very  difficult  and  fatiguing,  including  a  long  journey  by 
horse  over  a  rough  mountainous  country,  through  valleys  with 
difficult  sandy  roads  closely  shut  in  by  a  growth  of  bamboo 
and  other  tropical  plants.  The  first  lap  of  the  journey  was 
made  on  the  Dagupan  Railroad.  An  accident  on  this  road 
made  quite  an  impression  on  General  Sternberg;  a  carabao  was 
killed  by  the  engine  of  the  train.  Very  soon,  the  family  owning 
the  beast  came  running  to  the  scene  and  gathered  around  the 
animal,  the  women  shedding  tears  while  the  little  children 
patted  and  kissed  the  unfortunate  carabao.  From  the  appear- 
ance and  demeanor  of  the  family  General  Sternberg  thought 
they  must  be  losing  their  entire  support.  He  therefore  started 
a  subscription  to  purchase  another  animal,  and  the  sum  con- 
tributed covered  more  than  the  price  of  a  fine  young  specimen. 
On  his  arrival  at  Benguet,  General  Sternberg  was  favorably 
impressed  with  the  natural  conditions.  The  site  was  on  an 
elevation  of  about  5000  feet,  studded  with  pine  and  oak  trees 
and  covered  with  short  grass  and  tropical  foliage.  But  it  was 
extremely  inaccessible,  and  he  saw  no  way  of  occupying  this 
otherwise  desirable  spot  without  building  a  good  wagon  road 
or  a  railroad  to  carry  supplies.  This  could  be  done  only  at 
enormous  expense,  as  conditions  were  not  favorable.  Despite 
all  this,  he  constantly  extolled  the  desirability  of  the  site  as  a 
military  reservation,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  his  official 
reports  did  much  to  influence  the  building  of  the  famous  road 
to  Benguet,  which  made  possible  the  establishment  of  a  health 
resort  and  convalescent  home  for  those  whom  duty  required 
to  live  in  the  Philippine  Islands. 

JAPANESE     PORTS 

On  our  return  voyage  we  touched  the  excellent  ports  of 
Japan.  Our  ship  entered  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki  for  coal. 
Only  those  who  have  gone  into  this  port  can  realize  what 
nature  and  man  have  done  in  making  this  picturesque  spot  of 
green  cliffs  surrounding  a  spread  of  deep  clear  water  into  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  harbors.  Many  tons  of  coal  were  put  on 
board  by  the  little  Japanese  women,  who  nimbly  scaled  a 
ladder  with  the  coal  in  a  basket  on  their  backs,  supported  by 
a  leather  strap  passing  around  the  brow.  In  spite  of  their 
onerous  task  they  seemed  interested  and  contented  and  were 
very  industrious  and  quick  at  work.     I  had  never  seen  such 


PHILIPPINE    ISLANDS  235 

service  being  performed  by  women,  except  at  Barbadoes, 
where  ships  are  coaled  by  native  colored  women.  On  our  trip 
out  of  the  beautiful  harbor  into  the  Inland  Sea,  we  passed  hill- 
side gardens,  terrace  on  terrace  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see — 
an  original  example  of  intensive  cultivation  and  a  monument 
to  the  industry  of  the  Japanese  peasant.  Kobe,  our  next  port, 
has  at  present  the  larger  part,  if  not  the  greatest  value,  of 
Japan's  oversea  trade,  being  second  only  to  Yokohama,  and 
many  Englishmen  and  some  Americans  are  here  engaged  in 
business.  Our  time  was  so  limited  that  we  hastened  on  to 
Tokyo,  the  capital  of  the  Empire,  where  our  party  arrived 
after  dark.  The  ladies  of  the  party  were  placed  in  jinrikishas, 
while  the  men  went  in  search  of  our  light  baggage.  The  streets 
were  unusually  dark,  even  for  Tokyo,  which  at  that  time  was 
not  well  lighted.  Some  one  gave  the  word  go,  and  the  train 
of  jinrikishas  started,  I  alone  in  the  front  one.  The  man  could 
not  understand  my  directions  to  stop,  but  went  at  a  good  pace 
through  a  part  of  the  big  city  where  the  streets  were  narrow 
and  quite  dark — not  at  all  inviting.  I  could  not  see  who  was 
following  me,  and  growing  very  nervous,  I  shouted  for  my 
husband,  who  soon  appeared.  The  procession  halted,  and  one 
of  the  officers  was  placed  in  the  lead.  It  transpired  that 
because  of  the  lateness  of  the  hour  my  "riksha"  man  was  in 
haste  to  get  to  the  hotel.  He  knew  where  he  was  going  but  I 
did  not.  Everybody  thought  the  incident  a  good  joke,  and 
seemed  to  enjoy  laughing  at  me.  In  short  side  trips  we  visited 
Yokohama,  in  many  respects  the  most  thriving  and  up-to-date 
port  of  Japan,  and  Nikko,  scene  of  the  most  beautiful  temple 
to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  Japanese  Empire,  erected  to  sig- 
nalize the  last  resting  place  of  the  Shoguns,  founders  of  the 
Tokugawa  dynasty. 

One  evening,  as  we  were  sitting  in  the  reading  room  at  the 
hotel,  we  were  surprised  by  quite  an  earthquake  shock.  Every- 
one seemed  frightened  and  ran  for  the  doors  in  order  to  escape 
into  the  open  for  fear  it  would  be  repeated,  but  no  further 
quake  came.     However,  a  greater  shock  awaited  us. 

ASSASSINATION     OF     PRESIDENT     MC  KINLEY 

Returned  to  our  steamer  at  Kobe,  a  boat  came  alongside  one 
day  and  from  a  messenger  who  had  come  out  to  meet  a  tea 


236  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

merchant  we  learned  that  President  McKinley  had  been  shot 
at  Buffalo,  September  9,  and  that  he  was  still  living  and  making 
a  brave  struggle  for  life.  I  was  at  first  skeptical  of  the  accu- 
racy of  the  report,  but  after  I  had  received  assurance  that  the 
press  dispatch  was  reliable  I  was  much  distressed,  for  I  knew 
it  would  be  a  great  blow  for  General  Sternberg.  I  broke  the 
news  to  him  as  gently  as  I  could,  still  hoping  that  it  could  not 
be  true.  More  discouraging  news  came  before  we  left  Kobe, 
and  as  we  walked  the  deck  in  the  moonlight  and  gazed  at  the 
scenery  without  interest,  my  husband  confided  to  me  that  if  the 
report  be  true,  there  was  little  or  no  hope.  The  steamer  sailed 
smoothly  along  through  the  Inland  Sea,  and  we  sat  quietly 
on  the  deck,  gazing  now  without  interest  on  the  scenes  which 
were  unfolded,  for  our  thoughts  were  centered  on  the  great 
misfortune  that  had  befallen  our  nation.  At  Nagasaki,  the 
news  of  the  President's  condition  was  not  at  all  encouraging. 
We  reached  San  Francisco  a  little  before  the  scheduled  time, 
and  the  pilot  and  newspaper  men  brought  us  the  sad  news  that 
President  McKinley  had  passed  away,  September  14,  nearly 
a  fortnight  since.  An  irreparable  loss  to  the  nation  and  to  us 
personally. 

Mr.  McKinley  was  the  most  widely  loved  man  in  our  coun- 
try at  the  time,  and  his  death  was  deeply  deplored.  It  has  been 
said,  and  I  think  with  justice,  that  there  are  "three  chapters 
in  American  history,  which  stand  out  above  all  others.  They 
are  those  that  relate  to  Washington,  to  Lincoln  and  to 
McKinley.  Washington  created  the  nation,  Lincoln  preserved 
it,  McKinley  made  it  a  leading  world  power." 

We  hastily  made  arrangements  for  crossing  the  continent 
and  were  glad  to  count  the  miles  we  were  leaving  behind  us 
on  our  journey  to  Washington.  We  had  scarcely  arrived  when 
General  Sternberg  received  a  message  from  Mrs.  McKinley  to 
visit  her  in  her  old  home  in  Canton,  Ohio.  This  he  did  as 
soon  as  possible,  expecting  to  find  her  utterly  prostrated  by  the 
great  shock  and  her  deep  grief.  She  welcomed  him  cordially 
and  although  his  presence  must  have  caused  her  pangs  of 
sorrow  and  brought  thoughts  of  happier  days,  she  spoke  of 
much  that  had  taken  place  since  General  Sternberg  had  been 
out  of  the  country,  and  asked  him  to  go  with  her  at  a  fixed 
hour  to  visit  the  resting  place  of  Mr.  McKinley. 


CHAPTER    SEVENTEEN 
RETIREMENT     FROM    THE    ARMY 

From  May,  1893,  until  his  retirement,  June  8,  1902,  the  years 
were  full  of  intensive  work  for  General  Sternberg.  In  addition 
to  his  official  duties,  he  filled  many  positions  of  honor  and  trust 
and  delivered  numerous  addresses  on  subjects  on  which  he  was 
well  informed.  Many  of  the  illustrations  which  he  used  in  his 
lectures  were  the  work  of  his  own  hand,  photomicrographs 
made  in  the  years  of  his  research  on  the  organisms  of  infec- 
tious and  preventable  diseases.  His  address  as  the  president 
of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Washington,  delivered  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Washington  Academy  of  Sciences,  Dec. 
8,  1900,  treated  of  the  subject  of  malaria  in  a  broad  general 
way  and  introduced  experimental  evidence  in  support  of  the 
theory  that  the  mosquito  serves  as  the  intermediate  host  for  the 
parasite.  This  was  published  in  the  Smithsonian  Institution 
report  for  1900.  Another  notable  address  was  that  on  preven- 
tive medicine,  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the  postgraduate 
medical  school  of  George  Washington  University. 

Dr.  Sternberg  anticipated  his  retirement  for  age  with  mixed 
feelings  of  joy  and  sorrow.  He  was  devoted  to  the  welfare 
of  the  Army,  proud  of  the  progress  made  by  members  of  his 
corps  in  scientific  and  practical  work  and  he  deeply  regretted 
a  severance  of  official  relations.  On  the  other  hand,  after  a 
period  of  forty-one  years  in  the  service  of  his  country,  he 
naturally  longed  for  rest,  or  at  least  for  freedom  from  restraint. 
A  man  of  his  mental  and  physical  activities  could  not  remain 
idle  very  long,  but  there  is  a  great  difference  between  purely 
voluntary  work  and  work  done  as  a  matter  of  duty  or  neces- 
sity. Hon.  Elihu  Root,  Secretary  of  War,  in  recognition  of 
his  services,  had  recommended  that  he  be  retired  with  the  rank 
of  Major-General,  a  recommendation  which  met  with  the 
approval  of  the  medical  profession,  as  shown  by  the  editorial 
comment  of  the  leading  professional  periodical.1 


1.  Surgeon-General  Sternberg,  editorial,  J.  A.  M.  A.  38:  1011   (April 
19)  1902. 


238  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

The  Secretary  of  War  has  transmitted  to  Congress  a  recom- 
mendation that  Surgeon-General  Sternberg,  when  his  active 
service  is  legally  terminated  next  June,  be  retired  with  the 
rank  of  Major-General.  This  is  endorsed  by  General  Corbin, 
Adjutant-General  of  the  Army,  and  with  it  is  communicated 
a  biographical  sketch  of  Dr.  Sternberg  with  a  list  of  his 
leading  contributions  to  medicine  up  to  1893.  This  naturally 
does  not  include  some  of  Dr.  Sternberg's  best  work,  but  it 
makes  a  showing  that  ought  to  convince  congressmen  that  in 
thus  advancing  him  a  grade  they  are  honoring  one  who  has 
been  an  honor  to  his  country  as  well  as  a  faithful  public 
servant  for  forty-one  years,  much  of  the  time  in  arduous  and 
perilous  service  in  the  field  and  on  the  frontier. 

Indeed,  we  can  say,  without  disparagement  of  any  of  his 
predecessors,  that  as  a  scientific  medical  man  he  has  exalted 
the  office  of  Surgeon-General  of  the  United  States  Army  and 
that  at  the  present  time  we  are  not  aware  that  such  a  position 
is  anywhere  held  by  any  one  of  superior  or  even  equal  scien- 
tific reputation  as  an  original  investigator  and  authority.  If, 
as  General  Corbin  says,  the  Surgeon-General  of  the  Navy  was 
entitled  by  law  to  be  retired  with  a  rank  equivalent  to  that  of 
Major-General,  by  what  rule  of  justice  cannot  the  like  officer 
of  the  Army,  with  a  wider  range  of  work  and  greater  responsi- 
bilities, be  retired  with  the  same  rank  and  emoluments? 
Dr.  Sternberg's  record  is  well  known  to  the  members  of  the 
medical  profession,  which  has  shown  its  appreciation  by  his 
election  to  many  honorable  positions  and  honorary  member- 
ships both  here  and  abroad.  The  members  of  Congress  can 
be  assured  that  by  the  legislation  requested  they  only  carry 
out  the  wishes  of  the  class  of  their  constituents  both  in  and 
out  of  the  medical  profession  who  can  best  judge  of  the 
propriety  and  need  of  such  action.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
recommendation  will  be  promptly  followed  and  the  act  made 
effective  before  the  time  of  Surgeon-General  Sternberg's 
retirement. 

The  United  States  Senate  promptly  passed  the  bill,  and  it 
was  also  favorably  reported  by  the  military  committee  of  the 
House  of  Representatives.  When  called  up  under  suspension 
of  the  rules,  June  2,  1902,  the  bill  was  opposed  from  the  floor 
of  the  House  on  the  ground  that  it  would  afford  a  precedent 
for  similar  legislation  in  other  cases,  and  it  failed  to  receive 
the  necessary  two  thirds  vote.  While  the  affair  was  a  bitter 
disappointment  to  General  Sternberg,  he  had  the  comfort  of 
knowing  that  he  enjoyed  the  respect  and  esteem  of  the  medical 
profession,  and  this  approval  was  of  more  value  to  him  than 


RETIREMENT    FROM    ARMY  239 

military  honors  or  a  financial  competency.  Among  the  great- 
est joys  of  his  life  were  the  commendations  in  editorial  com- 
ments, such  as  the  one  quoted  in  the  foregoing,  and  a  letter 
from  Dr.  Biggs  of  New  York  requesting  him  to  name  a 
convenient  date  to  attend  a  dinner  to  be  given  in  his  honor. 

COMPLIMENTARY     DINNER 

Dear    Doctor  :  New  York'  Ma?  17'  1902- 

We  feel  that  the  retirement  of  Dr.  Sternberg  from  the  Army 
should  not  be  allowed  to  pass  without  an  expression  on  the 
part  of  his  many  friends  of  their  appreciation  of  his  long  and 
faithful  services  to  the  country  and  to  our  profession.  Enter- 
ing the  Army  in  1861,  Dr.  Sternberg  served  through  the  Civil 
War,  and  rose  by  successive  grades  until  in  1893  he  became 
Surgeon-General,  an  appointment  which  recognized  the  merits 
of  his  special  services  to  the  corps.  In  this  office  he  has 
borne  great  responsibilities  and  has  improved  in  many  ways 
the  organization  of  the  medical  corps,  notably  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Army  medical  school. 

In  the  work  of  the  profession  at  large  he  has  been  deeply 
interested.  Not  only  have  his  contributions  to  the  science 
of  bacteriology  been  important  and  numerous,  but  in  this 
country  he  has,  by  strong  personal  efforts  and  by  active  work 
in  our  societies,  stimulated  the  scientific  study  of  medicine 
and  fostered  and  encouraged  those  researches  which  in  the 
case  of  malaria,  yellow  fever  and  other  infectious  diseases 
have  proved  to  be  of  such  enormous  value. 

During  a  long  series  of  years  Dr.  Sternberg  has  been  a 
warm  advocate  of  all  measures  to  promote  the  public  health, 
and  has  unselfishly  devoted  much  time  to  the  work  of  national 
and  local  health  societies  and  to  the  establishment  of  efficient 
legislation.  His  contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  disin- 
fectants are  of  special  importance. 

In  recognition  of  his  long-continued,  varied,  and  impor- 
tant scientific  and  professional  labors  and  of  his  high  personal 
character  the  undersigned  committee  has  tendered  Dr.  Stern- 
berg a  dinner,  which  will  be  held  at  New  York,  on  June  13, 
and  to  which  you  are  invited  to  subscribe.  (Signed) 

Henry  D.  Holton,  Frank  Billings,  Simon  Flexner,  A.  C. 
Abbott,  James  Tyson,  J.  C.  Wilson,  W.  H.  Welch,  G.  M. 
Kober,  S.  B.  Ward,  F.  C.  Shattuck,  Maurice  Richardson, 
Harold  C.  Ernst,  Victor  C.  Vaughan,  Surgeon-General 
Rixey,  H.  M.  Hurd,  Roswell  Park,  Lewis  S.  Pilcher,  John 
A.  Wyeth,  Abraham  Jacobi,  Edward  G.  Janeway,  Hermann 
M.  Biggs,  Surgeon-General  Wyman,  Charles  G.  Stockton, 
Lewis  A.  Stimson.  Committee. 


240  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

The  following  report  of  the  dinner  is  from  the  Medical 
News,  June  21,  1902. 

It  was  a  highly  representative  body  that  gathered  last  Friday 
evening  at  Delmonico's  in  New  York  to  do  honor  and  to  pay 
homage  to  the  retired  Surgeon-General  of  the  Army,  George 
M.  Sternberg. 

Dr.  E.  G.  Janeway  in  his  introductory  remarks  first  read  a 
telegram  received  from  Maj.  Gen.  H.  C.  Corbin,  U.  S.  A.,  in 
which  he  offered  congratulations  to  Dr.  Sternberg  and  his 
sense  of  appreciation  of  duty  well  done. 

Further,  in  speaking  of  Dr.  Sternberg  and  of  his  long  life 
and  many  years  of  activity,  Dr.  Janeway  remarked  that  on 
being  retired  at  the  age  of  64  it  could  well  be  said  that  Dr. 
Sternberg  did  not  retire  on  any  grounds  of  insufficiency;  he 
was  not  responsible  for  his  date  of  birth  and  it  was  by  an  act 
of  Congress  only  that  he  was  forced  to  give  up  this  particular 
line  of  activity.  He  expressed  the  hope,  however,  for  this 
illustrious  student  of  bacteriology,  fellow  of  the  American 
Association  of  Hygienists,  commissioner  on  the  study  of  yellow 
fever,  author  and  worker,  that  many  years  would  be  left  him 
in  which  he  could  carry  on  his  work.  Dr.  Janeway  said  it  was 
a  matter  of  pride  for  the  American  physicians  to  point  out  the 
long  list  of  achievements  and  attainments  of  their  illustrious 
guest,  which  bespoke  such  a  high  mental  endowment  and  was 
an  evidence  of  work  well  done. 

Dr.  Alexander  H.  Smith,  in  response  to  the  toast,  the 
United  States  Army,  said  that  he  had  watched  the  career  of 
General  Sternberg  and  had  shared  in  his  honors,  and  through- 
out the  Spanish-American  War  had  felt  great  pride  in  his 
achievements.  He  had  seen  that  the  Medical  Department  was 
not  second  best,  but  first  best,  notwithstanding  all  the  draw- 
backs, the  results  were  more  satisfactory  and  the  criticism  less 
than  in  any  other  department  of  the  service,  and  Dr.  Sternberg 
then  and  there  demonstrated  that  a  medical  man  might  have 
executive  ability  outside  his  own  lines. 

Colonel  Lippincott  of  the  U.  S.  Medical  Corps  said  in 
part  as  follows :  "The  Army  and  his  own  corps  gravitate 
toward  General  Sternberg;  their  respect  and  love  reach  out 
in  his  direction.  The  work  that  Dr.  Sternberg  had  done,  find- 
ing ten  years  ago  the  miserable  old  stuff  left  from  the  Civil 
War,  in  remodeling  and  reconstructing  the  corps  so  thoroughly 
and  fundamentally  was  a  matter  to  be  proud  of,  and  one  is 
proud  to  have  such  a  medical  man  in  the  Army ;  one  honors  the 
man  who  made  it  possible  and  owes  him  a  debt  of  gratitude." 

Dr.  William  Osler  of  Johns  Hopkins  Medical  School, 
speaking  of  the  work  of  the  Army  in  Cuba,  said  it  was  a  happy 
expression,  "Peace  hath  her  victories  no  less  renowned  than 


RETIREMENT    FROM    ARMY  241 

war."  The  Spanish  War,  he  said,  afforded  an  illustration  not 
of  prize-fighting,  but  of  a  great  big  giant  pommeling  a  puny 
citizen  affected  with  general  paresis  or  Parkinson's  disease; 
it  was  not  a  fight,  he  said,  but  a  walkover.  But  there  was 
another  thing,  another  foe,  worthy  of  the  best  of  America's 
steel,  and  no  chapter  in  the  history  of  medicine  will  be  able  to 
stir  the  blood  of  the  American  profession  as  that  which  will 
tell  of  the  battle  with  that  foe,  yellow  fever. 

He  said  it  was  a  noble  tale  from  the  earliest  history  when 
Mathew  Carey  of  Philadelphia,  in  1793,  first  took  up  the  work. 
Throughout  the  early  history  of  medicine  one  reads  the  work 
of  Rush  and  of  Carey  and  the  hosts  of  others  who  fought  that 
foe.  It  has  always  been  the  same  story  in  the  Gulf  States,  the 
soul-stirring  history  of  the  men  who  laid  down  their  lives  in 
the  struggle  with  this  mighty  adversary.  Here  was  the  foe 
that  General  Sternberg  had  fought  and  had  vanquished;  his 
name  would  go  down  to  posterity  with  the  honor  of  a  battle 
long  fought  and  valorously  won.  The  victory,  Dr.  Osier  said, 
was  accomplished  in  a  way  that  reflected  great  credit  on  the 
Army  and  on  the  medical  profession.  The  work  of  Reed  and 
Carroll  was  a  piece  of  work  well  planned  and  well  carried  out, 
a  demonstration  to  the  entire  world. 

That,  however,  is  not  all  of  the  story.  Tuberculosis,  typhoid 
fever,  these  are  with  us  still.  Never  has  there  been  an  instance 
in  the  history  of  medicine  when  with  such  rapidity  an  organiza- 
tion had  been  able  to  wipe  out  a  scourge.  That  work  had  been 
carried  on  by  Dr.  Leonard  Wood  and  Dr.  William  C.  Gorgas. 

Dr.  W.  C.  Gorgas  [lately  Surgeon-General,  U.  S.  Army] 
said  that  had  their  work  not  been  so  successful  as  good  fortune 
had  made  it,  General  Sternberg  would  have  received  the  entire 
blame,  the  success  was  his  also.  When  Havana  was  occupied 
in  1899,  he  became  health  officer  in  the  spring  with  no  very 
clear  idea  of  what  to  do,  and  at  first  he  had  devoted  his  atten- 
tion to  the  organization  and  development  of  a  sanitary  depart- 
ment; work  was  started  in  on  all  lines,  good  as  well  as  bad, 
bad  as  well  as  good.  There  was  little  yellow  fever  in  the 
spring  of  that  year,  but  in  the  fall  and  winter  there  was  a 
great  deal.  In  1900,  though  the  general  sanitary  condition  had 
immensely  improved,  the  yellow  fever  was  still  present  and 
the  epidemic  was  of  a  severe  character.  There  were  over 
1,400  cases  and  300  deaths,  and  he  felt  discouraged  at  the  little 
progress  made.  In  1900  Dr.  Reed,  chief  of  the  bureau,  first 
directed  work  along  the  lines  of  the  theory  of  the  mosquito 
infection  and  he  proved,  as  history  now  so  well  knows,  that 
the  mosquito  can  be  infected  only  during  the  first  three  days 
of  the  disease,  and  that  there  is  a  period  of  from  twelve  to 
twenty-five  days  when  the  bite  of  the  stegomyia  can  convey 
the  disease. 


242  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

About  this  time  the  Sanitary  Department  was  organized 
and  turned  its  attention  to  study  the  local  conditions  and  their 
relation  to  the  spread  and  development  of  the  mosquito.  The 
rain  barrels,  the  family  cisterns,  all  breeding  Stegomyia,  the 
(  binese  gardens  from  which  came  Anopheles,  all  these  were 
studied  in  much  detail  and  a  force  of  150  men  was  put  to  work. 
There  were  but  few  cases  of  yellow  fever  at  the  time  and  the 
mosquitoes  of  the  neighborhood  were  killed  by  fumigation, 
pyrethrum  powder  proving  a  very  efficient  mosquitocide.  In 
lanuary  of  1901  the  city  was  free  from  yellow  fever;  in  July 
the  suburbs  received  a  certain  amount  of  reinfection,  but  on 
Sept.  28,  1901,  the  last  case  of  yellow  fever  occurred.  Since 
that  time  the  land  has  been  practically  free,  since  Havana  has 
been  the  center  of  infection.  The  success  had  been  due  to  the 
study  of  the  mode  of  propagation,  which  discovery  had  been 
made  possible  by  the  enthusiastic  cooperation  of  General  Stern- 
berg. 

Dr.  William  H.  Welch  of  Johns  Hopkins  Medical  School 
spoke  of  that  side  of  the  work  of  Dr.  Sternberg  which  was 
most  familiar  to  him,  namely,  his  work  in  bacteriology.  Dr. 
Sternberg,  he  said,  was  the  pioneer  worker  in  bacteriology  in 
this  country ;  he  had  been  compelled  to  acquire  the  technic  from 
reading  and  the  entire  world  knew  how  he  had  perfected  a 
technic  equal  to  that  of  the  best.  Dr.  Sternberg  had  made 
many  important  discoveries;  his  work  on  disinfection  and 
disinfectants  would  stand  as  a  monument  alone.  As  the  first 
worker  to  isolate  the  micro-organism  of  pneumonia  he  had 
gained  renown,  and  his  work  with  yellow  fever  would  stand 
forever. 

He  said  that  it  was  a  common  thing  in  these  busy  days  to 
forget  the  steps  which  led  up  to  any  important  discovery.  All 
that  Dr.  Sternberg  had  done  in  the  study  of  yellow  fever  was 
necessary  work  and  it  had  to  be  done  in  just  the  way  that  he 
did  it.  The  ground  had  first  to  be  cleared ;  if  it  were  not  so 
the  discovery  had  not  been  possible,  and  later  discoverers 
themselves  would  have  had  to  hunt  out  the  large  number  of 
micro-organisms  which  Dr.  Sternberg  had  described  and  laid 
aside. 

His  careful  work  had  practically  resulted  in  the  view  that 
a  bacteriological  origin  for  this  disease  could  not  be  claimed, 
and  it  was  on  a  priori  grounds  that  he  himself  had  felt  that 
Sanarelli's  bacillus  was  not  the  cause  of  yellow  fever.  Dr. 
Sternberg's  studies  of  others'  discoveries  were  most  careful 
and  most  critical ;  it  was  not  wasted  endeavor.  The  problem 
still  remains,  however,  what  the  cause  of  yellow  fever  is, 
although  the  method  of  eradication  has  been  demonstrated  in 
a  most  complete  and  authoritative  way. 


RETIREMENT    FROM    ARMY  243 

Dr.  Welch  expressed  the  wish  that  Dr.  Sternberg  would 
come  back  to  his  old  love,  and  to  his  test  tubes,  and  he  wel- 
comed him  to  many  years  of  fruitful  work  in  a  field  that  had 
always  claimed  him  as  peculiarly  its  own  and  one  in  which 
honor  and  renown  had  been  won  at  home  and  abroad. 

General  Sternberg  responded  as  follows : 

Gentlemen:  Words  fail  me  in  which  to  express  my  high 
appreciation  of  the  compliment  you  have  paid  me  by  making 
me  your  guest  of  honor  upon  this  occasion.  Such  a  compliment 
coming  to  me  from  the  leading  members  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession at  a  time  when  by  the  operation  of  law  I  have  reached 
the  end  of  my  active  service  as  a  medical  officer  of  the  Army, 
is  especially  gratifying.  Accepting  this  testimonial  as  evidence 
of  your  approval  of  my  efforts  for  the  promotion  of  medical 
science  and  of  the  interests  of  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  Army, 
I  thank  you  one  and  all  most  sincerely.  At  the  same  time  I 
feel  that  the  results  accomplished  have  fallen  much  below  my 
earnest  desires  and  perhaps  have  not  been  commensurate  with 
the  opportunities  I  have  had. 

My  first  feeble  efforts  in  the  field  of  investigation  which  has 
always  presented  the  greatest  attraction  for  me — the  etiology 
and  prevention  of  infectious  diseases — were  made  at  a  time 
when  no  one  in  this  country  was  prepared  to  give  me  instruc- 
tion in  methods  of  research  and  I  was  to  a  large  extent  thrown 
on  my  own  resources.  The  tubercle  bacillus,  the  typhoid 
bacillus  and  many  other  well-known  pathogenic  micro-organ- 
isms had  not  yet  been  discovered  and  a  most  promising  field 
of  investigation  was  presented  to  my  view,  for  I  was  strong 
in  the  belief  that  infectious  diseases  must  be  due  to  infectious 
agents  capable  of  self-multiplication,  i.  e.,  to  living  disease 
germs.  It  so  happened  that  the  principal  problem  which  I  was 
called  on  to  solve  was  one  of  the  most  difficult  that  has 
engaged  the  attention  of  investigators,  and  one  in  which  bac- 
teriological methods  have  proved  to  be  of  no  avail  except  in 
establishing  a  negative  proposition,  i.  e.,  that  yellow  fever  is 
not  due  to  a  micro-organism  of  this  class.  The  time  and  per- 
sistent work  devoted  by  me  to  an  investigation  of  the  etiology 
of  this  disease  might  have  given  more  fruitful  results  if  my 
attention  had  been  turned  in  some  other  direction,  but  while  I 
met  with  a  serious  disappointment  in  my  failure  to  discover 
the  yellow  fever  germ,  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that 
my  researches  cleared  the  way  for  the  subsequent  demonstration 
by  Reed  and  his  associates,  of  the  method  by  which  this  disease 
is  transmitted  from  man  to  man.  From  a  practical  point  of 
view  this  is  all  we  require  to  guide  us  to  successful  measures 
of  prophylaxis,  as  has  been  recently  demonstrated  in  the  Island 
of  Cuba. 


244  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

But  I  must  not  occupy  your  time  by  further  reference  to 
this  portion  of  my  life  work.  For  nine  years  I  have  scarcely 
looked  through  a  microscope,  my  time  having  been  fully  occu- 
pied by  the  important  duties  entrusted  to  my  charge  as  Sur- 
geon-General of  the  Army.  While  I  have  not  been  able 
personally  to  prosecute  any  research  having  in  view  the 
advancement  of  medical  science,  it  has  been  a  source  of  great 
satisfaction  to  me  that  I  have  been  able  to  provide  the  means 
and  appliances  for  other  medical  officers  of  the  army  -to  do 
so.  When  I  commenced  my  research  work  I  had  to  provide 
my  own  microscope  and  material  of  all  kinds.  There  not 
only  was  no  bacteriological  laboratory  or  apparatus  at  any 
military  post,  but  so  far  as  I  am  informed  none  at  any  medi- 
cal school  or  university  in  the  country.  At  present  we  have 
a  thoroughly  equipped  laboratory  in  connection  with  our 
Army  Medical  School  in  the  city  of  Washington,  at  all  of  our 
general  hospitals  in  this  country  and  in  the  Philippines,  and 
also  at  every  military  post  of  any  importance  throughout  the 
United  States.  We  also  have  a  considerable  number  of  medi- 
cal officers  who  have  been  instructed  at  the  Army  Medical 
School,  which  I  established  in  1893,  who  are  well  prepared 
to  take  advantage  of  their  opportunities  for  research  work. 

The  Medical  Corps  of  the  Army  is  today  in  a  high  state 
of  efficiency  and  I  am  proud  to  have  been  the  Chief  of  this 
corps  d 'elite  during  a  period  when  its  efficiency  and  useful- 
ness has  been  put  to  so  severe  a  test.  The  profession,  also, 
has  reason  to  be  proud  of  its  members  who  are  attached  to 
the  military  service  of  the  country.  Our  senior  surgeons  have 
been  called  upon  to  fill  positions  of  great  trust  and  responsi- 
bility during  the  past  four  years  and  have,  as  a  rule,  acquitted 
themselves  with  great  credit.  As  Chief  Surgeons  in  the 
Philippines,  in  Cuba  and  in  Porto  Rico,  they  have  been  to  a 
large  extent  responsible  for  the  administration  of  the  affairs 
of  the  Medical  Department,  and  have  been  called  upon  not  only 
to  protect  our  troops  from  the  ravages  of  infectious  diseases 
but  to  perform  a  similar  service  for  the  natives  of  the  various 
islands  in  which  American  soldiers  have  been  called  upon  to 
serve.  In  all  of  these  islands  we  found  smallpox  to  be  widely 
prevalent  and  in  all  it  has  been  practically  stamped  out.  In 
Cuba  yellow  fever  was  a  scourge  which  threatened  to  do  us 
greater  injury  than  the  bullets  of  our  foes.  But  thanks  to  Reed 
and  his  colleagues  on  the  board  sent  to  study  this  disease,  we 
now  know  how  to  prevent  its  extension  and  have  practically 
stamped  it  out  in  the  city  of  Havana,  which  has  for  many  years 
been  its  principal  endemic  focus  in  the  West  Indies.  In  the 
Philippines  bubonic  plague  has  been   kept  in   check  by  the 


RETIREMENT    FROM    ARMY  245 

strenuous  exertions  of  our  medical  officers  and  the  latest 
reports  indicate  that  it  has  almost  disappeared  from  the  city  of 
Manila.  Unfortunately  Asiatic  cholera  has  recently  gained  a 
foothold  in  Manila  and  the  neighboring  provinces.  Colonel 
Maus,  who  is  at  present  acting  as  Commissioner  of  Public 
Health,  is  fighting  this  scourge  with  every  means  known  to 
science  and  hopes  to  be  able  to  avert  a  serious  epidemic. 

Time  will  not  permit  me  to  dwell  further  upon  the  achieve- 
ments of  our  medical  officers  during  and  since  the  Spanish- 
American  war,  but  I  make  bold  to  say  that  as  sanitarians,  as 
surgeons,  as  all-round  practitioners  of  medicine,  and  as  scien- 
tific investigators,  we  have  in  our  ranks  many  medical  officers 
who  are  an  honor  to  the  Corps  and  to  the  profession. 

I  also  point  with  pride  to  our  general  and  post  hospitals. 
The  general  hospitals  at  the  Presidio,  at  Fort  Bayard,  at  Wash- 
ington Barracks,  and  at  the  Hot  Springs,  Ark.,  are  models 
which  bear  comparison  with  the  best  civil  or  military  hospitals 
in  any  part  of  the  world.  In  this  country  nearly  every  military 
post  of  any  importance  has  a  modern  hospital  well  adapted  to 
the  requirements  of  the  military  service,  provided  with  a  well- 
equipped  laboratory  for  clinical  and  research  work,  and  an 
operating  room  which  would  be  regarded  with  satisfaction  by 
any  surgeon  accustomed  to  the  precautions  necessary  for  suc- 
cessful aseptic  surgery. 

When  I  graduated  in  medicine  in  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  in  this  city  my  ambition  did  not  extend  beyond 
the  hope  of  securing  a  living  practice  in  the  country.  My  first 
venture  was  at  a  little  town  on  Long  Island,  where  a  vacancy 
was  supposed  to  exist  owing  to  the  recent  death  of  an  old  and 
highly  respected  physician.  Apparently  I  was  not  able  to  fill 
this  vacancy  for  my  professional  shingle  was  displayed  for 
several  months  and  I  did  not  receive  a  single  professional  call. 
Not  being  appreciated  in  this  conservative  neighborhood  I 
moved  my  base  of  operations  to  Elizabeth  City,  New  Jersey,  and 
was  getting  a  little  practice  when  the  war  tocsin  sounded  and 
my  future  career  was  determined  by  the  favorable  verdict  of 
an  army  medical  examining  board  as  to  my  qualifications  for 
duty  as  an  army  surgeon.  Within  three  months  I  was  engaged 
in  infecting  gun-shot  wounds  with  dirty  fingers  and  unsterilized 
cold  water  dressings,  and  in  amputating  the  legs  and  arms  of 
unfortunate  soldiers  who  had  sustained  gun-shot  fractures  in 
the  disastrous  battle  of  the  first  "Bull  Run."  We  were  all 
blissfully  ignorant  of  pathogenic  micrococci  and  bacilli  in  those 
days,  but  having  had  Willard  Parker  as  my  professor  of 
surgery,  and  Dr.  Sands  as  demonstrator  of  anatomy,  I  was 
not  entirely  unprepared  for  the  responsibilities  of  the  battle- 
field. 


246  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

It  would  perhaps  have  been  more  profitable  if  I  occupied 
the  time  at  my  disposal  upon  this  memorable  occasion  in  speak- 
ing in  some  detail  of  the  advancement  of  medicine  and  surgery 
since  my  student  days ;  but  most  of  you  are  better  qualified  to 
discuss  this  interesting  topic  than  I  am,  and  I  am  sure  you 
will  pardon  me  if  my  remarks  have  been  more  or  less  personal 
and  reminiscent  in  character.  I  find  it  hard  to  realize  that  the 
country  youth  of  my  name  who  came  to  this  city  as  a  student 
of  medicine  in  1858  is  here  today  as  the  honored  guest  of 
leading  members  of  the  medical  profession  in  the  United 
States,  whose  names  are  as  household  words  wherever  students 
of  scientific  medicine  are  assembled. 

I  thank  you,  gentlemen,  again  and  most  sincerely  for  this 
kind  testimonial  of  your  esteem.  Your  endorsement  of  my 
life  work  is  of  more  value  to  me  than  military  honors  or 
financial  competency.  I  have  at  times  felt  discouraged  and 
disposed  to  think  that  I  have  fallen  far  short  of  what  might 
reasonably  have  been  expected  in  view  of  my  opportunities. 
But  it  is  reserved  for  the  very  few  to  accomplish  great  things 
and  the  physician  who  has  won  the  esteem  of  those  of  his 
profession  who  are  best  qualified  to  judge  of  his  work  may 
well  be  satisfied  although  he  realizes  that  he  has  had  but  a 
small  share  in  promoting  the  advancement  of  scientific  medi- 
cine and  the  interests  of  our  beloved  and  humane  profession. 

COMMENDATORY     LETTERS 

In  the  following  communication  from  a  member  of  General 
Sternberg's  official  family  his  chief  attainments  as  Surgeon- 
General  are  summarized : 

Dear  Mrs.  Sternberg: 

I  am  greatly  pleased  to  learn  that  you  are  preparing  a  biog- 
raphy of  General  Sternberg,  and  venture  to  take  this  oppor- 
tunity of  writing  you  the  point  of  view  of  a  medical  officer 
regarding  General  Sternberg's  high  motives  and  attainments. 

As  you  know,  General  Sternberg  just  at  the  close  of  the 
Spanish-American  War  ordered  me  to  the  command  of  the 
Army  General  Hospital  at  Washington  Barracks,  Washington, 
D.  C,  and  thereafter,  until  the  General's  retirement  in  1902,  I 
was  practically  a  member  of  his  official  family,  for  as  com- 
mandant of  a  general  hospital  I  reported  directly  to  the 
Surgeon-General,  having  no  other  superior  officer. 

When  the  Army  Medical  School  was  reopened  in  1900,  he 
had  me  appointed  professor  of  military  surgery  in  that  institu- 
tion, and  as  result  of  holding  the  hospital  and  school  posi- 
tions I  was  brought  very  intimately  in  contact  with  the  General, 
few  days  passing  in  which  I  did  not  see  him  for  direction, 
advice  or  adjustment  of  some  one  of  the  many  matters  arising 
particularly  from  the  conduct  of  the  hospital. 


RETIREMENT    FROM    ARMY  247 

Of  General  Sternberg's  pioneer  work  in  bacteriology  and  of 
his  professional  attainments,  others  are  better  qualified  by 
direct  observation  to  speak,  but  the  result  of  his  profound 
comprehension  of  the  professional  need  of  the  Medical  Corps 
was  felt  by  me  and  others  of  the  corps  long  before  I  served 
directly  under  him.  Prior  to  his  appointment  to  the  Surgeon- 
Generalcy,  through  lack  of  foresight  and  failure  to  appreciate 
the  crying  need  of  allowing  members  of  the  corps  the  means 
of  professional  advancement  and  stimulating  them  to  individual 
endeavor,  the  corps  was  undergoing  a  process  of  internal  dry 
rot  and  official  discouragement.  With  this  General  Sternberg 
was  himself  familiar,  having  had  to  pursue  his  researches  and 
having  reached  his  eminence  in  science  by  working  under  those 
discouraging  conditions,  not  only  without  support  from  those 
in  authority,  but  indeed  often  under  press  of  indifference  if 
not  of  active  or  passive  opposition. 

But  General  Sternberg  had  such  high  appreciation  of  the 
mission  of  medicine  as  a  science,  that  when  called  to  the 
Surgeon-Generalcy  he  swept  away  all  existing  reactionary 
methods  and  inaugurated  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the 
Medical  Corps.  The  young  men  of  the  corps  of  which  I  was 
then  one,  at  once  felt  the  change. 

Recent  medical  publications  and  periodicals,  laboratory  appa- 
ratus and  operating  room  appliances  were  furnished  and 
members  of  the  corps  were  encouraged  and  expected  to  keep 
up  with  the  advance  of  medicine  and  surgery.  General  Stern- 
berg was  the  first  Surgeon-General  who  fully  appreciated  the 
professional  as  well  as  the  official  aspects  of  his  office.  He 
raised  the  corps  from  medical  obscurity  to  a  definite  and 
creditable  place.  He  did  this  not  only  by  installing  many  basic 
improvements  but  by  encouraging  instead  of  repressing  indi- 
vidual effort.  No  better  example  of  this  is  afforded  than  the 
career  of  Walter  Reed.  To  Reed  he  first  gave  the  opportunity 
to  study  bacteriology,  then  a  professorship  of  that  subject  in 
the  Army  Medical  School,  and  finally  occasion  to  make  the 
great  discovery  of  the  way  of  transmission  of  yellow  fever,  by 
appointing  him  to  head  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission  which, 
following  the  road  cleared  by  the  bacteriologic  work  of  General 
Sternberg,  led  to  Reed's  great  discovery. 

Instead  of  turning  over  attending  surgeoncies  in  cities  to 
personal  or  political  favorites,  General  Sternberg  gave  these 
services  with  their  opportunities  for  study  in  turn  to  the 
medical  officers  who  showed  themselves  professionally  capable 
of  utilizing  them.  By  the  establishment  of  the  Army  Medical 
School,  he  founded  an  institution  of  incalculable  value  to  the 
educational  and  research  advancement  of  the  Medical  Corps. 

Prior  to  his  time  general  hospitals  in  the  Army  had  been 
held  for  war  purposes  only,  and  with  the  coming  of  peace  were 


248  GEORGE    M.    ST  ERA' BERG 

discontinued.  General  Sternberg  saw  the  great  possibilities 
of  these  hospitals,  where  with  complete  plants,  fully  equipped 
with  modern  appliances  for  diagnosis  and  treatment  and 
manned  with  specialists,  cases  difficult  of  diagnosis  and  requir- 
ing special  treatment  could  have  all  the  resources  of  modern 
diagnosis  and  therapy.  With  this  in  view  he  established  the 
hospital  for  tuberculosis  at  Fort  Bayard,  continued  after  the 
war  with  Spain  was  over,  as  also  the  general  hospital  at  San 
Francisco,  Calif.,  and  the  general  hospital  in  Washington. 

He  saw  the  great  possibilities  of  a  general  hospital  in  the 
National  Capital,  where  there  would  always  be  a  large  clientele 
for  treatment,  where  a  general  hospital  would  always  be 
needed  in  case  of  future  war,  and  where  it  could  be  used  for 
clinical  and  research  purposes  in  connection  with  the  Army 
Medical  School.  It  was  in  line  with  this  that,  as  commandant 
of  the  hospital,  I  was  put  in  charge  of  military  surgery  at  the 
school,  so  that  the  didactic  and  theoretical  work  of  military 
surgery  could  be  supplemented  by  practical  clinical  and  oper- 
ative work  at  the  hospital. 

Many  officials  not  as  farsighted  as  General  Sternberg 
desired  and  attempted  to  have  the  general  hospital  discon- 
tinued, arguing  that  with  the  end  of  the  war  the  need  was 
past,  and  they  were  entirely  unappreciative  of  the  even  greater 
need  for  continuance  in  peace,  a  need  which  has  been  so  well 
proved  by  the  development  of  the  old  hospital  into  the  Walter 
Reed  General  Hospital  which  has  been  of  such  great  use  in  the 
great  war,  and  in  connection  with  which  the  new  Army  Medical 
School  buildings  are  to  be  erected.  In  my  position  under 
General  Sternberg,  when  submitting  matters  relative  to  the 
development  and  conduct  of  the  hospital,  its  connection  with 
the  medical  school  and  its  usefulness  to  the  military  service 
in  general,  I  found  him  always  actuated  by  the  highest  and 
most  comprehensive  ideals.  For  this  reason  he  was  able  to 
unite  all  those  policies  which  have  been  basic  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Army.  He  was  net 
an  opportunist,  but  a  clear  sighted,  deep  thinking  scientist. 
His  policy  once  decided  on,  he  pursued  his  course  unfalter- 
ingly. Equally  unfaltering  was  his  support  of  his  subordinates 
in  all  matters  in  which  support  was  warranted.  I  came  to 
know  through  many  personal  experiences  arising  from  the 
conduct  of  the  general  hospital,  that  General  Sternberg  could 
always  be  counted  on  unflinchingly  to  support  his  subordinates 
in  all  matters  which  concerned  the  dignity  and  the  official 
status  of  the  Medical  Corps,  which  made  the  corps  or  its  indi- 
vidual members  more  efficient,  which  advanced  the  general 
good  of  the  service  or  advanced  medical  science. 


RETIREMENT    FROM    ARMY  249 

General  Sternberg  was  the  pioneer  in  professional  advance- 
ment in  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  Army.  It  will  be  fortunate, 
indeed,  should  he  have  successors  as  kindly,  as  capable  and 
with  as  great  a  grasp  of  the  high  mission  of  medical  science. 

William    Cline    Borden, 
Lieutenant-Colonel,  U.  S.  Army  (Retired). 

The  following  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  War  was 
addressed  to  General  Sternberg  on  the  occasion  of  his  retire- 
ment from  active  duty  in  the  Army. 

WAR    DEPARTMENT 

Washington 

December  15,  1903. 
My  Dear  General  Sternberg: 

I  thank  you  very  much  for  your  photograph.  I  have  asked 
Mr.  Chance  to  get  your  signature  upon  it.  It  will  represent 
for  me  a  very  delightful  association  with  an  officer  whose 
scientific  attainments  and  devotion  to  the  public  service  entitle 
him  to  grateful  recognition.  I  shall  always  be  proud  of  the 
achievements  of  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  United  States  Army 
under  your  administration. 

Always  faithfully  yours, 

Elihu    Root. 
Brig.-Gen.  George  M.  Sternberg, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Shortly  after  General  Sternberg's  retirement  we  exchanged 
our  home  on  Sixteenth  Street,  N.  W.,  for  a  home  on  California 
Avenue,  with  space  for  a  garden.  It  was  here  we  enjoyed 
many  days  and  hours  of  great  happiness.  We  had  some  fruit 
trees,  flowering  bushes,  and  a  beautiful  green  turf  of  blue 
grass.  General  Sternberg  always  had  a  love  for  flowers  and 
had  cultivated  them  in  our  surroundings  in  all  of  our  Army 
homes,  and  now,  relieved  from  all  official  cares  and  in  need  of 
recreation,  he  transferred  his  affections  to  his  home  with  its 
extensive  grounds.  He  planted  rose  bushes  and  flowering 
shrubs,  and  was  compensated  for  his  labor  by  splendid  returns 
of  beautiful  roses.  During  this  time  he  was  engaged  in  the 
preparation  of  his  work  on  Infection  and  Immunity,  with 
special  reference  to  the  prevention  of  infectious  diseases,  which 
was  published  in  1903.  He  was  not  left  long  in  the  pursuit  of 
absolute   leisure,    for   demands    for   his   professional   interest 


250  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

came  to  him  in  numbers.  He  soon  found  himself  again  a 
rather  busy  man,  occupying  the  chair  of  preventive  medicine 
in  the  graduate  school  of  George  Washington  University  and 
taking  an  active  part  in  the  antituberculosis  campaign,  and  in 
other  philanthropic  and  social  endeavors. 


CHAPTER    EIGHTEEN 
HUMANITARIAN     INTERESTS 

Few  men  in  the  last  decades  of  history  have  performed 
more  beneficent  work  in  pure  science  than  General  Sternberg, 
and  a  review  of  his  work  in  his  creative  years  will  bear  out 
this  assertion.  He  had  a  natural  taste  for  scientific  research, 
but  he  always  sought  the  practical  application  of  science  to 
the  amelioration  of  human  ills.  His  first  important  work  in 
the  field  of  bacteriology  was  that  on  disinfectants  and  disinfec- 
tion as  a  means  of  preventing  the  so-called  germ  diseases.  He 
never  lost  an  opportunity  to  impress  on  the  public  that  the 
eradication  of  preventable  diseases  is  the  highest  aim  of  scien- 
tific medicine.  At  an  early  period  of  his  investigations  he 
conceived  it  his  duty  to  educate  the  public  in  a  knowledge  of 
the  causation  and  prevention  of  disease. 

It  was  not  possible  for  a  man  of  General  Sternberg's  interest 
in  humanity  to  remain  inactive  when  much  remained  to  be 
accomplished  in  matters  of  sanitary  reform.  In  company  with 
other  men,  trained  in  practical  sanitation,  notably  our  friend, 
Dr.  G.  M.  Kober,  whom  we  first  met  at  Fort  Walla  Walla  in 
1877,  he  saw  great  opportunities  for  improving  conditions. 
Men  deeply  interested  in  preventive  medicine  cannot  be  content 
with  the  scientific  knowledge  that  unsanitary  houses  are  largely 
responsible  for  the  prevalence  of  tuberculosis,  or  that  polluted 
river  water  and  impure  milk  are  potent  factors  in  the  spread  of 
typhoid  fever ;  they  must  make  practical  application  of  this 
knowledge.  It  so  happened  that  in  1896  General  Sternberg 
was  a  member  of  the  committee  on  permanent  relief  of  the 
poor  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  Dr.  Kober  was  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  sanitation  of  the  Civic  Center.  Both  were 
deeply  interested  in  the  purification  of  the  water  supply,  the 
improvement  of  market  milk  and  the  removal  of  the  slums, 
and  their  positions  gave  opportunity  for  cooperative  efforts  in 
this  field. 

The  committee  on  housing  of  the  Civic  Center  submitted  a 
report  of  its  survey,  Jan.  12,  1897,  while  General  Sternberg's 
committee  made  a  preliminary  report,  Jan.  27,  1897,  of  which 
the  following  is  an  extract : 


252  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Our  investigations  show  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
indigent  population  of  Washington  are  housed  in  tenements 
located  in  alleys  of  the  city ;  that  many  of  these  alley  houses 
are  unfit  for  human  habitation ;  that  the  majority  of  them  are 
not  supplied  with  water  and  have  no  sewer  connections ;  that 
many  of  the  houses  and  the  yards  attached  to  them  are  in  a 
very  insanitary  condition;  that  typhoid  fever  and  other  infec- 
tious diseases  cause  a  considerable  mortality  in  these  alley 
houses  as  a  result  of  such  insanitary  conditions ;  that  the  sani- 
tary inspection  service  of  the  health  department  is  entirely 
inadequate  and  that  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  the  district  com- 
missioners or  the  health  office  of  the  city  to  remedy  these  evils 
under  existing  laws  and  circumstances. 

This  state  of  affairs  is  a  disgrace  to  the  national  capital, 
and  in  our  opinion  calls  for  legislation  by  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  by  which  the  district  commissioners  may  be 
enabled  to  condemn  and  destroy  tenements  which  are  unfit  for 
human  occupation,  to  condemn  and  pay  for  buildings  and 
ground  required  for  the  purpose  of  widening  alleys,  and  open- 
ing blind  alleys,  conformably  to  existing  laws,  to  construct 
branch  sewers  and  introduce  water  and  gas,  so  that  sanitary 
tenements  may  be  erected  on  these  minor  streets  or  alleys 
which  can  be  rented  to  the  poor  as  low  or  lower  than  are  the 
insanitary  dwellings  now  occupied  by  many  of  them. 

The  committee  on  housing  of  the  Civic  Center,  consisting 
of  Miss  K.  P.  Hosmer  and  Messrs.  Henry  Gannett,  G.  W. 
Hanger,  G.  A.  Weber  and  George  M.  Kober,  chairman,  after 
setting  forth  the  facts  revealed  by  a  general  survey,  submitted 
the  following  recommendations : 

1.  The  speedy  conversion  of  all  alleys  containing  a  sufficient 
number  of  human  habitations  into  minor  streets  and  places. 

2.  When  impracticable  to  extend  or  cut  through  the  blind 
alleys  from  north  to  south  or  from  east  to  west  and  to  widen 
them  at  least  to  30  feet,  they  should  be  condemned  as  unfit 
for  human  habitation. 

3.  All  alleys  and  alley  houses  should  be  subjected  to  a 
searching  official  investigation,  the  houses  should  come  up  to  a 
reasonable  sanitary  standard  and  dwellings  unfit  for  human 
habitation  should  be  condemned. 

4.  The  attention  of  capitalists  should  be  drawn  to  the  fact 
that  no  class  of  realty  pays  as  well  as  alley  property  in  this 
city,  and  that  there  is  a  splendid  field  for  investment  in  the 
erection  of  sanitary  and  comfortable  alley  houses  on  a  business 
and  humanitarian  basis. 


HUMANITARIAN    INTERESTS  253 

General  Sternberg's  committee  said: 

We  concur  in  general  with  the  recommendations  recently- 
made  by  a  committee  of  the  Civic  Center  of  this  city  and  desire 
to  call  special  attention  to  the  fourth  and  concluding  recom- 
mendation of  this  committee  submitted,  Jan.  12,  1897. 

For  the  purpose  of  securing  prompt  action  in  accordance 
with  this  recommendation,  the  committee  suggested  a  plan  for 
the  organization  of  a  company  which  would  interest  capital  in 
sanitary  housing  for  wage-earners. 

WASHINGTON     SANITARY     IMPROVEMENT     COMPANY 

In  February,  1897,  the  Civic  Center  in  conjunction  with  the 
Board  of  Trade  of  Washington,  the  Central  Relief  Committee, 
and  the  Woman's  Anthropological  Society,  held  a  public  meet- 
ing at  the  Foundry  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  on  the  subject 
of  housing  the  wage-earners,  which  was  addressed  by  Dr.  E. 
H.  L.  Gould  of  New  York,  Bishop  Satterlee,  General  Stern- 
berg, Mr.  John  Joy  Edson,  and  others.  Another  meeting  was 
held  under  the  auspices  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  March  26,  1897, 
at  the  Builders'  Exchange. 

In  the  meantime,  sufficient  stock  had  been  subscribed  to 
justify  the  organization  of  a  company,  and  a  committee  con- 
sisting of  Messrs.  C.  C.  Cole,  A.  Y.  Worthington,  Nathaniel 
Wilson,  George  M.  Sternberg,  John  Joy  Edson,  S.  W.  Wood- 
ward, George  L.  Andrews,  B.  T.  Janney  and  George  M.  Kober 
was  instructed  to  obtain  articles  of  incorporation,  which  were 
granted  under  the  laws  of  the  state  of  Virginia,  April  14,  1897. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  directors,  General  Sternberg  was 
elected  president ;  Mr.  S.  Walter  Woodward,  vice  president ; 
Dr.  George  M.  Kober,  secretary,  and  Mr.  John  Joy  Edson, 
treasurer. 

While  the  original  intention  of  the  organizers  was  to  provide 
homes  for  the  alley  residents  with  a  view  to  removing  the 
slums,  it  was  considered  best  to  begin  by  providing  improved 
dwellings  for  the  better  class  of  wage-earners  so  that  houses 
vacated  by  them  might  be  rented  by  the  next  grade  and  so  on 
until  the  bottom  of  the  ladder  was  reached.  Had  the  company 
acted  otherwise  the  undertaking  would  probably  have  resulted 
in  failure.  As  it  is,  it  has  established  a  standard  of  sanitary 
homes  at  reasonable  rentals,  which  other  landlords  are  obliged 
to  adopt,  or  the  company  will  supply  the  demand. 


254  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

The  plans  of  the  apartments,  largely  General  Sternberg's 
own  work,  were  for  him  a  source  of  great  pleasure  and  relaxa- 
tion. In  this,  as  in  all  his  other  work,  I  had  tried  to  show  an 
interest,  and  I  recall  that  he  was  wont  to  say  that  Mrs.  Stern- 
berg and  Dr.  Kober  insisted  there  should  be  no  common  archi- 
tectural features,  and  that  each  of  the  two-story  apartments 
should  have  separate  entrance,  exits  and  yards. 

By  rigid  economy  and  careful  business  methods  the  directors 
were  able  to  pay  a  dividend  of  5  per  cent,  per  annum  from  the 
very  inception  of  the  enterprise.  The  company  continued  to 
erect  homes  from  year  to  year,  and  in  1900  was  awarded  a  gold 
medal  at  the  Paris  exposition,  the  only  company  of  the  United 
States  to  receive  that  award.  Gold  medals  were  also  awarded 
to  General  Sternberg,  president,  and  to  Dr.  Kober,  secretary. 
The  company  now  owns  312  houses  occupied  by  624  families, 
and  its  assets,  March  31,  1918,  were  $774,661,  with  a  surplus 
over  and  above  liabilities  of  $274,661.09  (over  50  per  cent,  of 
the  original  stock  issued). 

WASHINGTON     SANITARY     HOUSING     COMPANY 

General  Sternberg,  to  whose  zeal  and  energy  the  success  of 
the  improvement  company  was  largely  due,  felt  that  a  5  per 
cent,  investment  could  not  directly  benefit  the  day  laborers, 
laundresses  and  other  humble  wage-earners.  In  the  interest 
of  the  health  and  morals  of  this  class,  he  determined  in  the 
early  part  of  1904  to  organize  a  new  company  with  dividends 
limited  to  4  per  cent.,  and  secured  a  charter  from  Congress, 
April  24,  1904. 

In  the  language  of  General  Sternberg,  the  object  of  the  new 
company  was : 

To  build  sanitary  houses  for  a  deserving  class  of  the  popula- 
tion which  cannot  afford  to  pay  the  rentals,  which  the  better 
class  of  wage-earners  pay  for  the  flats  of  the  Washington 
Sanitary  Improvement  Company.  To  bring  the  rentals  within 
the  reach  of  this  class  it  is  necessary  to  build  on  cheaper  land 
and  to  leave  out  certain  features  (bay  windows  and  cellars) 
which  add  to  the  expense  of  construction.  It  is  not  proposed 
to  provide  for  the  idle  and  dissolute,  and  only  those  who  pay 
their  rents  and  take  reasonable  care  of  the  apartments  will  be 
retained  as  tenants. 


.^^ygggg? 


Medals  Awarded  to  George  Miller  Sternberg. 


HUMANITARIAN    INTERESTS  255 

In  May,  1904,  the  company  purchased  ground  and  built 
twenty  houses,  which  were  occupied  in  October  of  the  same 
year.  These  houses  are  now  rented  by  respectable  colored 
tenants,  who  pay  $7  a  month  for  three  rooms  and  bath,  or 
$8  a  month  for  four  rooms  and  bath.  It  was  regrettable  that 
the  subscription  to  the  stock  of  the  new  company  during  the 
first  two  years  was  very  small  and  came  mostly  from  contrib- 
utors to  charitable  and  uplift  work.  Since  philanthropy  and 
4  per  cent,  apparently  were  not  attracting  sufficient  capital  for 
the  expansion  of  the  work,  General  Sternberg  had  the  charter 
amended  so  as  to  permit  the  payment  of  5  per  cent,  dividends. 

At  the  time  of  General  Sternberg's  death,  the  company 
owned  ninety-seven  houses,  accommodating  194  families,  with 
assets  of  $244,418  and  a  depreciation  fund  of  $20,973. 

General  Sternberg  was  also  very  active  in  an  effort  to  secure 
a  law  compelling  the  proper  repair  or  removal  of  dwellings 
unfit  for  human  habitation.  The  original  bill  was  drafted  by 
him  in  1897,  but  because  of  the  opposition  of  interested  parties 
and  on  account  of  the  inertia  of  a  few  congressmen,  who 
objected  to  this  measure  on  constitutional  grounds,  it  was  not 
enacted  into  law  until  May  1,  1906.  Since  the  latter  date,  2,082 
houses  have  been  demolished  as  unfit  for  human  habitation 
and  1,592  houses  have  undergone  compulsory  repairs  to  place 
them  in  a  sanitary  condition.  Coupled  with  this  work,  he  took 
a  lively  interest  in  appropriations  for  the  health  department, 
as  well  as  for  the  conversion  of  inhabited  alleys  into  minor 
streets.  He  very  properly  emphasized  on  occasion  that  no 
matter  what  might  be  accomplished  by  legislation  in  the  elim- 
ination of  the  alleys  "it  should  be  remembered  that  the  evil  of 
overcrowding  will  only  be  transferred  to  other  localities  outside 
of  the  alleys  unless  a  sufficient  supply  of  houses  at  low  rentals 
is  in  some  way  provided  for  unskilled  wage-earners  of  this 
city."  Fortunately,  the  success  of  the  two  housing  companies 
stimulated  private  enterprise  and  resulted  in  the  erection  of 
thousands  of  so-called  two-story  sanitary  flats  at  reasonable 
rentals. 

ANTITUBERCULOSIS     WORK 

Having  been  the  first  in  America  to  demonstrate  the  tubercle 
bacillus  discovered  by  Koch  in  1881,  and  being  perfectly 
familiar  with  the  causes  and  prevention  of  pulmonary  tuber- 


256  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

culosis,  it  was  natural  that  General  Sternberg  should  labor  long 
and  faithfully  in  the  campaign  against  this  disease.  He  was  a 
charter  member  of  the  National  Association  for  the  Study  and 
Prevention  of  Tuberculosis,  and  president  of  the  Society  for 
the  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
from  1908  to  1915.  In  public  addresses  on  the  housing  and 
tuberculosis  problems  he  often  pointed  out  that  as  regards 
pulmonary  tuberculosis,  Washington  had  the  disgraceful  mor- 
tality record  of  305  per  hundred  thousand  of  population,  lead- 
ing all  other  cities  in  the  United  States,  with  the  exception  of 
Denver  and  Los  Angeles,  to  which  cities  unfortunate  victims 
of  this  disease  resort  in  large  numbers  from  all  parts  of  the 
country. 

He  knew  from  personal  inspection  and  from  records  of  the 
health  department  that  the  blind  alleys  in  which  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  poor  of  the  city  lived  in  overcrowded  and  unsani- 
tary houses,  naturally  favored  the  development  of  tuberculosis 
and  other  infectious  diseases.    To  quote  his  own  words: 

Insufficient  ventilation  and  insanitary  surroundings  reduce 
the  vital  resisting  power  of  individuals  exposed  to  such  condi- 
tions; overcrowding  causes  closer  contact  with  the  infected 
individuals,  and  the  absence  of  sunlight  prevents  the  destruction 
of  disease  germs  by  nature's  principal  disinfecting  agent.  The 
tubercle  bacillus  is  quickly  killed  by  exposure  to  sunlight,  but 
many  germs  survive  indefinitely  in  dark  and  damp  places. 

He  emphasized  the  fact  that  the  mortality  from  tuberculosis 
was  more  than  three  times  as  great  among  the  colored  popula- 
tion as  among  the  white,  largely  because  they  occupied  the 
most  unsanitary  alley  houses.  He  made  it  clear  that  much 
good  could  be  accomplished  by  social  service  workers  and 
visiting  nurses,  in  pointing  out  the  danger  of  ill  ventilated 
rooms,  improper  food  and  impure  milk,  and  that  very  much 
depended  on  the  intelligent  activities  of  the  health  department 
— supported  by  adequate  appropriations,  proper  sanitary  regu- 
lations, and  an  ample  corps  of  inspectors. 

There  is  reproduced  herewith  a  chart  showing  the  result  of 
excellent  leadership  in  the  antituberculosis  campaign  in  the 
national  capital,  pronounced  by  Prof.  William  H.  Welch  (in 
a  private  letter  dated  April  10,  1910),  a  very  impressive  and 
remarkable  object  lesson.     In  recognition  of  their  services  to 


HUMANITARIAN    INTERESTS 


257 


humanity  the  National  Association  for  the  Study  and  Preven- 
tion of  Tuberculosis  elected  two  physicians,  who  were  espe- 
cially active  in  the  campaign  for  the  eradication  of  the  white 
plague,  to  honorary  membership;  these  were  Dr.  Edward  L. 
Trudeau  and  Surgeon-General  Sternberg.  Both  men  richly 
deserved  this  special  honor  for  their  labor  of  love,  and  by  a 


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singular  coincidence  both  men  passed  away  in  the  month  of 
November,  1915,  to  receive  their  reward  beyond  the  grave. 

STARMONT     SANATORIUM 

As  chairman  of  the  committee  on  prevention  of  tuberculosis 
of  the  Associated  Charities,  General  Sternberg  assisted  Mr. 
William  H.  Baldwin  and  Dr.  Kober  in  securing  legislation  for 
registration  of  cases  of  tuberculosis  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 


258  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

and  in  efforts  to  secure  the  erection  of  a  tuberculosis  hospital 
for  indigent  patients.  Pending  the  erection  of  such  an  institu- 
tion, he  urged  and  established  dispensaries  for  tuberculosis 
patients  and  secured  temporary  provisions  for  their  care  and 
treatment  at  the  Washington  Asylum  Hospital.  After  the 
completion  of  the  city  hospital  for  tuberculosis,  there  were 
ample  provisions  for  sanatorium  treatment  within  the  reach 
of  the  poor,  but  there  were  no  facilities  for  the  large  middle 
class.  General  Sternberg  set  about  to  correct  this  condition 
by  the  establishment  of  the  Starmont  Sanatorium.  After  a 
tremendous  personal  campaign,  with  the  aid  of  professional 
and  personal  friends,  the  Washington  Sanatorium  Company 
was  incorporated  in  January,  1906,  for  the  open  air  treatment 
of  all  forms  of  tuberculosis. 

The  sanatorium  was  located  in  Montgomery  County,  Mary- 
land, 18  miles  from  Washington,  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
R.  R.  It  was  beautifully  situated  on  a  high  point  of  ground 
over  500  feet  above  sea  level,  and  consisted  of  seventy-six 
acres  of  ground,  improved  by  a  commodious  new  house,  which 
was  surrounded  by  fine  large  trees.  The  building  was  used  as 
an  administration  building  and  consisted  of  sitting  rooms, 
dining  rooms,  kitchen,  office  and  laboratory,  and  bed  rooms 
for  the  resident  physician,  housekeeper  and  servants.  The 
patients  lived  in  the  open,  rested  on  an  extensive  porch  around 
the  main  building  and  slept  in  tents.  These  latter  were  of  a 
new  design  and  were  ventilated  through  the  top;  they  were 
well  floored  and  furnished,  and  very  comfortable  and  attractive. 
Later,  when  the  tents  became  weatherbeaten  and  worn,  cot- 
tages were  substituted.  The  stock  of  the  company  was  sub- 
scribed by  philanthropic  citizens  and  physicians  of  Washington. 
All  patients  were  required  to  pay  moderate  charges  to  make 
the  institution  self-supporting.  While  the  sanatorium  could 
not  receive  patients  at  reduced  rates,  many  of  the  cases 
admitted  were  assisted  by  charitable  organizations  and  indi- 
viduals, by  churches  and  by  the  Starmont  Auxiliary.  A  con- 
siderable number  of  the  patients  were  assisted  through  the 
liberality  of  Mr.  Henry  Phipps,  who  at  the  outset  of  the  under- 
taking sent  General  Sternberg  a  sum  of  money  to  be  used  at 
his  discretion  for  the  benefit  of  deserving  persons. 


HUMANITARIAN    INTERESTS  259 

One  of  the  greatest  blessings  to  the  sanatorium  was  the 
Samuel  Berliner  Infirmary,  a  memorial  erected  by  his  son,  Mr. 
Emile  Berliner  of  Washington,  D.  C.  Mr.  Berliner  was  much 
interested  in  the  campaign  against  tuberculosis,  and  he  cooper- 
ated with  General  Sternberg  in  educating  the  public  to  guard 
against  the  spread  of  the  dread  disease.  He  edited  and  issued 
a  series  of  health  rules  for  schoolchildren,  distributed  instruc- 
tions to  mothers  in  regard  to  the  danger  of  bovine  tuberculosis 
and  advocated  pasteurization  of  the  milk  supply. 

When  experience  was  beginning  to  tell  that  the  sanatorium 
was  not  receiving  adequate  support  from  patients  for  whose 
benefit  it  was  especially  founded,  General  Sternberg  issued  a 
special  appeal,  calling  attention  to  the  opinion  of  the  highest 
authorities  on  tuberculosis,  that  it  was  no  longer  necessary  to 
send  patients  to  distant  localities  in  order  to  promote  their 
recovery.  Excellent  results  could  be  obtained  in  properly 
conducted  sanatoriums  located  in  the  vicinity  of  our  Eastern 
cities,  as  had  been  demonstrated  in  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  by  the  experi- 
ence gained  at  Starmont.  This  campaign  had  little  or  no 
effect  on  the  profession,  for  patients  of  means  were  still  urged 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  climatic  advantages  of  the  Far  West. 
The  fact  that  a  beautifully  situated  and  well  kept  sanatorium 
was  nearby,  one  that  was  superior  in  many  respects  to  other 
institutions  of  its  kind,  made  no  impression,  and  most  of  the 
patients  who  could  have  assisted  the  sanatorium  financially 
went  to  distant  resorts,  while  the  majority  of  those  who 
remained  were  themselves  in  need  of  assistance.  In  spite  of 
all  efforts  to  offset  this  by  benevolent  contributions,  it  became 
necessary  to  close  the  doors  of  Starmont. 

THE     PRESIDENT'S     HOMES     COMMISSION 

In  spite  of  his  varied  and  extensive  knowledge  of  sociologic 
conditions  in  New  York  and  elsewhere,  President  Roosevelt 
up  to  1902  evidently  had  no  personal  knowledge  of  the 
wretched  abodes  hidden  away  in  the  alleys  of  Washington. 
The  slums  of  the  national  capital  presented  a  sad  picture  of 
the  poverty  and  depravity,  avarice  and  inhumanity  which  had 
been  encountered  and  described  by  philanthropist  and  moralist 
as  early  as  1871.     This  state  of  affairs  had  been  repeatedly 


260  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

remarked  on  in  preceding  years,  and  the  press  had  given 
publicity  to  the  efforts  of  General  Sternberg  and  others  to 
correct  existing  evils.  Mr.  Jacob  Riis  had  made  a  personal 
inspection  of  the  situation  and  declared  that  "he  had  not 
expected  to  find  in  our  national  capital  the  peculiar,  inhabited, 
hidden  alleys,  which  he  had  noted  and  condemned  in  the 
notorious  Whitechapel  District  of  East  London,  and  that  the 
insanitary  dwellings,  in  some  respects,  were  worse  than  any 
he  had  seen  in  New  York  City."  Similar  opinions  had  been 
expressed  by  competent  and  conservative  observers  years 
before,  but  were  repelled  by  the  flippant  statement  that  "Wash- 
ington has  no  slums  or  serious  tenement  problems."  In  the 
fall  of  1902,  the  President  delegated  Mr.  Weller,  general 
secretary  of  the  Associated  Charities,  to  study  the  social  condi- 
tions and  needs  of  the  national  capital,  and  was  naturally 
"surprised  and  shocked  at  some  accounts  of  'How  the  other 
half  live,'  almost  within  the  shadow  of  the  capitol  dome." 

As  a  result  of  this  survey  of  the  municipal  problems  of 
Washington  and  other  cities,  the  President  in  his  message  to 
Congress,  December,  1904,  dwelt  wisely  on  the  fundamental 
principles  underlying  social  righteousness  and  civic  ideals,  as 
shown  in  the  following  extracts : 

In  pursuing  the  set  plan  to  make  the  city  of  Washington  an 
example  to  other  American  municipalities,  several  points  should 
be  kept  in  mind  by  the  legislators.  In  the  first  place,  the  people 
of  this  country  should  clearly  understand  that  no  amount  of 
industrial  prosperity,  and  above  all  no  leadership  in  inter- 
national industrial  competition  can  in  any  way  atone  for  the 
sapping  of  the  vitality  of  those,  who  are  usually  spoken  of  as 
the  working  classes.  The  farmers,  the  mechanics,  the  skilled 
and  unskilled  laborers,  the  small  storekeepers,  make  up  the  bulk 
of  the  population  of  the  country,  and  upon  their  well-being, 
generation  after  generation,  the  well-being  of  the  country  and 
race  depends.  Rapid  development  in  wealth  and  industrial 
leadership  is  a  good  thing,  but  only  if  it  goes  hand  in  hand  with 
improvement  and  not  deterioration,  physical  and  moral.  The 
overcrowding  of  cities  and  the  draining  of  country  districts  are 
unhealthy  and  even  dangerous  symptoms  in  modern  life.    .    .    . 

The  death  rate  statistics  show  a  terrible  increase  in  mortality, 
and  especially  in  infant  mortality,  in  overcrowded  tenements. 
The  poorest  families  in  tenement  houses  live  in  one  room  and 
it  appears  that  in  these  one  room  tenements  the  average  death 


HUMANITARIAN    INTERESTS  261 

rate  for  a  number  of  given  cities  at  home  and  abroad  is  about 
twice  what  it  is  in  a  two-room  tenement,  four  times  what  it  is 
in  a  three-room  tenement,  and  eight  times  what  it  is  in  a  tene- 
ment consisting  of  four  rooms  or  over.  These  figures  vary 
somewhat  for  different  cities,  but  they  approximate  in  each  city 
those  given  above,  and  in  all  cases  the  increase  of  mortality, 
and  especially  of  infant  mortality,  with  the  decrease  in  the 
number  of  rooms  used  by  the  family  and  with  the  consequent 
overcrowding  is  startling.  The  slum  exacts  a  heavy  total  of 
death  from  those  who  dwell  therein,  and  this  is  the  case  not 
merely  in  the  great  crowded  slums  of  high  buildings  in  New 
York  and  Chicago,  but  in  the  alley  slums  of  Washington.  In 
Washington  people  cannot  afford  to  ignore  the  harm  that  this 
causes.  No  Christian  and  civilized  community  can  afford  to 
show  a  happy-go-lucky  lack  of  concern  for  the  youth  of  today, 
for  if  so,  the  community  will  have  to  pay  a  terrible  penalty  of 
financial  burden  and  social  degradation  in  the  tomorrow.  .  .  . 
Several  considerations  suggest  the  need  of  a  systematic 
investigation  into  and  improvement  of  housing  conditions  in 
Washington.  The  hidden  residential  alleys  are  breeding 
grounds  of  vice  and  disease,  and  should  be  opened  into  minor 
streets.  For  a  number  of  years  influential  citizens  have  joined 
with  the  District  commissioners  in  the  vain  endeavor  to  secure 
laws  permitting  the  condemnation  of  insanitary  dwellings.  The 
local  death  rates,  especially  from  preventable  diseases,  are  so 
unduly  high  as  to  suggest  that  the  excellent  wholesomeness  of 
Washington's  better  sections  is  offset  by  bad  conditions  in  her 
poorer  neighborhods.  A  special  "Commission  on  Housing  and 
Health  Conditions  in  the  National  Capital"  would  not  only 
bring  about  the  reformation  of  existing  evils,  but  would  also 
formulate  an  appropriate  building  code  to  protect  the  city  from 
mammoth  brick  tenements  and  other  evils,  which  threaten  to 
develop  here,  as  they  have  in  other  cities.  That  the  nation's 
capital  should  be  made  a  model  for  other  municipalities  is  an 
idea  which  appeals  to  all  patriotic  citizens  everywhere,  and  such 
a  special  commission  might  map  out  and  organize  the  city's 
future  development  in  lines  of  civic  and  social  service,  just  as 
Major  L'Enfant  and  the  recent  park  commission  planned  the 
arrangement  of  her  streets  and  parks.     .     .     . 

In  his  message  to  the  Fifty-Ninth  Congress  in  December, 
1905,  Mr.  Roosevelt  again  urged  that  Washington  be  made  a 
model  city  in  all  respects — parks,  public  playgrounds,  housing, 
education,  truancy  and  charitable  work.  In  the  same  year  he 
commissioned  his   friend,   Hon.  James   B.   Reynolds,   former 


262  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

head  worker  of  the  University  Settlement,  New  York,  to  make 
a  survey  of  all  federal  and  district  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment related  to  the  general  welfare  of  Washington. 

The  report  of  Mr.  James  B.  Reynolds  disclosed  the  following 
facts :  The  building  laws  and  ordinances  were  defective  and 
incomplete.  One  ordinance  stipulated  that  each  sleeping  room 
should  measure  at  least  400  cubic  feet  for  every  occupant  over 
10  years  of  age,  but  failed  to  place  limitations  on  the  number 
of  children  under  10  years  who  might  sleep  in  such  rooms. 
Hallways  of  tenements  must  be  lighted  at  night,  but  no  such 
requirement  applied  to  necessary  lighting  of  dark  halls  during 
the  day.  Nearly  all  wooden  shacks  and  brick  houses  in  popu- 
lated alleys  were  in  a  very  unsanitary  condition,  with  inade- 
quate water  supply  and  filthy  methods  of  sewage  disposal. 
The  worst  conditions  prevailed  in  inside  alleys,  which,  uncon- 
trolled by  police  inspection  and  unaffected  by  public  observa- 
tion, were  centers  of  disorder  and  crime. 

To  correct  these  social  defects,  Mr.  Reynolds  recommended 
the  appointment  of  a  special  commission  to  be  known  as  the 
President's  Homes  Commission,  and  suggested  the  following 
plans : 

1.  The  President's  Homes  Commission  should  be  composed 
of  fifteen  members,  to  include  among  others  a  real  estate  dealer, 
a  practical  builder  and  two  representatives  of  trade  unions. 

2.  The  commission  should  be  instructed  to  ascertain  and 
consider  the  results  of  the  best  efforts  of  public  enterprise  and 
private  philanthropy  to  improve  the  homes  and  better  the  lives 
of  the  industrial  classes  in  other  cities  in  the  country. 

3.  It  should  be  instructed  to  invite  cooperation  of  all  having 
interest  in  the  housing  problem  and  the  home  problem  in  the 
District,  and  before  presenting  its  final  report  it  should  give 
public  hearings  on  the  main  points  of  its  program  so  that  all 
just  criticism  may  be  heard. 

4.  It  should  be  advised  to  recommend  as  far  as  possible 
reforms  which  may  be  accomplished  by  your  executive  order 
or  by  the  action  of  the  District  government. 

5.  The  commission  should  serve  without  compensation  and 
all  expenses  incurred  should  be  borne  by  voluntary  contribu- 
tions. 

The  President  designated  the  membership  of  the  commission 
in  the  following  letter : 


HUMANITARIAN    INTERESTS  263 

The    White    House 
Washington 

May  4,  1907. 
I  enclose  you  a  copy  of  the  report  made  to  me  by  Mr.  James 
Bronson   Reynolds.      In   pursuance   of   the   recommendations 
therein  made,  I  have  decided  to  designate  a  commission  of 
fifteen  persons,  as  follows  : 

Gen.  George  M.  Sternberg,  Dr.  George  M.  Kober,  Mr.  Wil- 
liam H.  Baldwin,  Mr.  Frederic  L.  Siddons,  Prof.  George  W. 
Cook,  Mr.  Whitfield  McKinlay,  Miss  Mabel  T.  Boardman, 
Mrs.  Arnold  Hague,  Mr.  James  Bronson  Reynolds,  Mr.  S.  W. 
Woodward,  Mr.  John  B.  Sleman,  Jr.,  Mr.  T.  C.  Parsons,  Mr. 
Emmett  L.  Adams,  Mr.  P.  J.  Brennan,  Mr.  William  F.  Downey. 
Can  you  serve  as  a  member  of  this  commission  for  the  pur- 
pose indicated?  I  earnestly  hope  that  you  can  accept,  as  it 
seems  to  me  that  this  commission  has  before  it  a  large  field 
of  usefulness. 

Yours  sincerely, 

Theodore    Roosevelt. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  commission,  General  Sternberg 
was  unanimously  elected  chairman,  and  the  work  was  carefully 
apportioned  to  various  committees.  After  a  thorough  study 
of  conditions,  a  preliminary  report  was  submitted  to  President 
Roosevelt,  who  authorized  its  publication  in  July,  1907.  The 
full  report x  was  presented  in  December,  1908,  and  contained, 
among  other  valuable  features,  a  pioneer  study  of  industrial 
hygiene. 

INTERNATIONAL     CONGRESS     ON     TUBERCULOSIS 

The  sixth  International  Congress  on  Tuberculosis  was  held 
in  Washington,  in  1908,  in  response  to  an  invitation  by  the 
delegates  of  the  National  Association  for  the  Study  and  Pre- 
vention of  Tuberculosis  at  the  Paris  congress  of  1905.  At 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  national  convention  in  May,  1906,  a 
plan  of  organization  had  been  recommended  by  the  directors 
and  adopted.  Dr.  Lawrence  F.  Flick  was  made  chairman, 
with  power  to  choose  and  appoint  other  members  of  the  com- 
mittee to  the  number  of  100,  which  committee  was  afterward 
known  as  the  central  committee. 

In  all  the  arrangements  for  the  congress,  General  Sternberg 
showed  a  remarkable  interest,  and  gladly  rendered  every  ser- 


1.  U.  S.  Senate,  Document  No.  644,  1909. 


264  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

vice  that  would  in  any  way  promote  the  success  of  the  move- 
ment. He  was  appointed  the  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
local  affairs,  and  he  entered  on  the  work  in  his  usual  energetic 
manner,  being  at  all  times  in  close  touch  with  the  chairman  of 
the  central  committee  of  the  congress.  In  addition  to  this,  he 
was  vice  president  of  the  section  on  the  social,  industrial  and 
economic  aspects  of  tuberculosis.  The  unfinished  condition  of 
the  building  in  which  the  congress  was  held  necessitated  much 
fatiguing  effort  on  the  part  of  members  of  the  local  committee. 
General  Sternberg's  physical  strength  was  severely  taxed  by 
climbing  long  flights  of  stairs,  and  his  heart,  never  strong  since 
his  attack  of  yellow  fever,  was  thereby  further  weakened. 

During  the  meeting  we  gave  a  dinner  in  honor  of  Dr.  Robert 
Koch,  discoverer  of  the  bacillus  of  tuberculosis  and  the  central 
figure  of  the  congress.  It  will  be  recalled  that  General  Stern- 
berg had  known  him  for  many  years,  and  he  selected  to  meet 
him,  men  who  had  manifested  special  interest  in  the  study  and 
prevention  of  tuberculosis.  The  guests  assembled  at  the  dinner 
were  Dr.  Robert  Koch,  Prof.  Panwitz  of  Berlin,  Dr.  Theodore 
Williams  of  London,  Dr.  Edward  L.  Trudeau,  Dr.  William  H. 
Welch,  Dr.  Abraham  Jacobi,  Prof.  Calmette,  Dr.  Vincent  Y. 
Bowditch,  Dr.  George  M.  Kober,  Dr.  Frederic  Montezambert, 
Dr.  Louis  Landouzy,  Sir  Arthur  Newsholme  (British  Local 
Government  Board),  Dr.  Lawrence  F.  Flick  and  Mr.  William 
H.  Baldwin. 

It  was  on  this  festive  occasion  that  Professor  Koch,  in 
response  to  a  toast,  placed  his  hand  on  General  Sternberg's 
shoulder,  saying,  "Here  is  my  brother  in  the  work  and  one 
whom  I  admire  among  the  men  of  the  world,"  and  on  behalf 
of  his  foreign  friends  he  complimented  General  Sternberg  on 
his  scientific  "attainments  and  proclaimed  him  the  father  of 
American  bacteriology. 

While  penning  these  lines,  I  cannot  refrain  from  placing  on 
record  that  at  the  outset  of  the  present  war,  General  Sternberg 
(whose  ancestors  had  come  to  this  country  as  early  as  1713 
in  search  of  liberty)  felt  humiliated  and  indignant  at  the  nation 
which  had  produced  such  men  as  Robert  Koch  and  other 
leaders  in  the  field  of  preventive  medicine,  for  its  disregard 
of  international  law,  and  especially  for  the  violation  of  Belgian 
neutrality.    It  is  needless  to  add  that  a  man,  whose  sympathies 


George  Miller  Sternberg,  1912. 


HUMANITARIAN    INTERESTS  265 

were  at  all  times  with  the  weak  and  oppressed,  had  he  lived 
to  see  the  day,  would  have  hailed  with  delight  the  entry  of 
our  beloved  country  into  the  war  for  liberty  and  justice. 

The  last  great  congress  attended  by  General  Sternberg  was 
the  fifteenth  International  Congress  on  Hygiene  and  Demog- 
raphy, held  in  Washington,  D.  C,  from  Sept.  16  to  Oct.  5, 
1912.  General  Sternberg,  as  a  member  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee on  organization  and  of  the  committee  on  arrangements 
aided  in  every  possible  way  in  the  development  and  success 
of  its  instructive  exhibits  of  hygienic  topics.  This  meeting 
was  held  in  consequence  of  an  invitation  extended  by  the 
United  States  Government  at  the  fourteenth  congress  in  Berlin, 
and  it  was  attended  by  sanitarians  and  scientists  from  all  parts 
of  the  world,  with  many  of  whom  General  Sternberg  was  per- 
sonally acquainted. 


CHAPTER     NINETEEN 
LAST    CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    PREVENTIVE    MEDICINE 

After  his  retirement,  General  Sternberg  had  often  been 
tempted  to  write  the  medical  history  of  the  Spanish- American 
War.  He  felt,  however,  that  the  task  would  be  too  great  a 
tax  on  his  strength,  and  he  was  forced,  therefore,  to  content 
himself  with  the  publication  of  isolated  papers  and  addresses 
bearing  on  the  subject.  In  December,  1912,  these  writings 
were  collected  in  a  little  volume  for  distribution  among  his 
friends  as  a  souvenir.  Among  other  papers,  this  volume  con- 
tained his  reply,  previously  unpublished,  to  Col.  Theodore 
Roosevelt's  article,  "The  War  Department."  There  was  also 
reprinted  an  exhaustive  paper  on  the  "Sanitary  Problems  Con- 
nected with  the  Construction  of  the  Isthmian  Canal,"1  in  which 
General  Sternberg  clearly  pointed  out  how  the  enormous  loss  of 
life  which  had  attended  previous  unsuccessful  attempts  could 
be  avoided.  He  recommended  that  "the  sanitary  service  on 
the  line  of  the  Isthmian  Canal  should  be  under  one  head,  and 
that  the  carrying  out  of  measures  for  the  prevention  of  disease 
and  the  care  of  the  sick  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  a 
competent  medical  director."  Attention  was  directed  to  the 
fact  that  the  problem  was  essentially  the  same  as  that  which 
was  involved  in  the  campaign  for  the  eradication  of  yellow 
fever  in  Havana,  and  in  this  connection,  he  cited  the  work  of 
General  (then  Major)  William  C.  Gorgas,  who  was  subse- 
quently appointed  chief  sanitary  officer  of  the  Panama  Canal. 

SANITARY     PROBLEMS     OF     THE     ISTHMIAN     CANAL 

After  professing  his  faith  in  the  ability  of  the  United  States 
to  surmount  the  engineering  and  financial  obstacles,  General 
Sternberg  launched  into  discussion  of  the  hygienic  phases  of 
the  enterprise. 

I  have  not  the  data  at  hand  to  enable  me  to  state  how  many 
laborers  and  officials  lost  their  lives  during  the  progress  of  the 
work  on  the  Panama  Canal,  but  it  is  generally  known  that  the 

1.  North  American  Review,  September,  1902. 


LAST    CONTRIBUTIONS  267 

number  was  enormous,  and  that  the  insanitary  conditions  along 
the  line  of  the  canal,  and  the  consequent  sickness  and  mortality 
among  the  employees  of  the  Canal  Company,  constituted  one 
of  the  most  serious  difficulties  with  which  this  company  had  to 
contend. 

The  object  of  the  present  paper  is  to  indicate  how  these  diffi- 
culties may  be  avoided  in  future,  and  to  impress  upon  those 
who  will  have  charge  of  the  work  the  fact  that,  in  the  present 
state  of  sanitary  science,  it  would  not  only  be  costly,  but  crimi- 
nal, to  repeat  the  experiences  of  the  past  in  this  regard.  From 
a  humanitarian  point  of  view,  it  will  readily  be  conceded  that 
an  unnecessary  sacrifice  of  the  lives  of  those  who  are  employed 
to  do  the  work  of  excavating  the  canal,  would  be  unjustifiable ; 
but  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  an  undertaking  of  this  kind 
will  be  postponed  or  delayed  on  account  of  the  possibility  that 
large  numbers  of  human  lives  may  be  sacrificed  in  carrying  out 
plans  which  have  been  made  by  expert  engineers,  and  approved 
by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

The  laborers  and  those  who  superintend  their  work  will  be 
very  much  in  the  position  of  soldiers  who  are  sent  to  a  distant 
and  unhealthy  country  to  promote  the  interests  of  their  Gov- 
ernment. They  go  without  question  or  complaint ;  and  if  they 
fall  victims  to  some  infectious  disease  or  to  the  bullet  of  the 
enemy,  their  places  are  promptly  filled  by  others  who  willingly 
submit  themselves  to  the  same  chances.  But  it  is  evident  that, 
aside  from  the  humanitarian  point  of  view,  the  better  they  are 
trained  for  the  service  required  of  them — whether  soldiers  or 
laborers — the  more  difficult  it  will  be  to  replace  them,  and  the 
greater  the  financial  loss  when  they  are  prevented  by  sickness 
from  performing  the  special  duties  required  of  them.  A 
Jamaica  negro  who  is  employed  simply  to  handle  a  pick  or  a 
shovel,  may  be  easily  replaced ;  but  when  an  engineer  who  has 
charge  of  a  steam  shovel  falls  sick,  the  expensive  apparatus 
which  he  has  been  trained  to  control  may  lie  idle. 

As  great  engineering  enterprises  now  depend  largely  upon 
the  employment  of  skilled  labor,  it  is  evident  that  the  preser- 
vation of  the  health  of  these  laborers  is  an  economic  question 
of  prime  importance.  From  our  point  of  view,  it  is  so  impor- 
tant that  it  is  incumbent  upon  the  government  which  undertakes 
to  construct  an  isthmian  canal  to  give  to  those  who  will  be 
engaged  in  the  actual  prosecution  of  the  work  all  the  advantages 
to  be  derived  from  a  well-organized  sanitary  service,  based 
upon  the  present  state  of  scientific  information  relating  to  the 
cause  and  prevention  of  those  infectious  diseases  which  are 
most  likely  to  prevail  under  the  conditions  which  will  exist 
along  the  line  of  the  proposed  canal.  We  know  what  these 
diseases  are;  we  know  the  conditions  which  lead  to  their 
epidemic   prevalence ;   and   we   know   how   to   prevent   them. 


268  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  would  indeed  be  criminal  not  to 
apply  this  knowledge  in  a  practical  way  for  the  preservation 
of  the  lives  of  those  who  are  called  upon  to  battle  with  those 
malign  agents  which  appear  to  oppose  themselves  to  man,  in 
his  efforts  to  overcome  the  barriers  raised  by  nature  to  arrest 
his  progress  in  the  subjection  of  the  earth  to  his  material  uses. 
In  this  battle  the  soldier  of  labor  is  supported  by  enormous 
and  complicated  engines  of  war,  operated  by  steam,  by  elec- 
tricity, or  by  explosives  which  rend  the  solid  rock. 

But  when  these  are  in  position  and  the  tearing  down  of  a 
mountain  has  been  fairly  commenced,  all  his  efforts  may  be 
paralyzed,  and  his  steam  shovels  and  diamond  drills  compelled 
to  remain  idle,  because  of  the  attacks  of  an  unseen  foe,  such 
as  the  bacillus  of  typhoid  fever,  the  parasite  of  malarial  fever, 
or  the  unrecognized  germ  of  yellow  fever. 

The  laborers  upon  the  isthmian  canal  will  be  exposed  to  the 
ravages  of  all  these  infectious  diseases;  and  it  may  be  confi- 
dently asserted  that  each  one  of  them  will  claim  numerous 
victims,  unless  the  proper  measures  of  protection  are  enforced. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  prevalence  of  typhoid  fever  depends 
to  a  large  extent  upon  the  quality  of  the  water  supply,  and  that, 
when  there  is  any  possibility  that  this  may  be  contaminated, 
the  simple  and  obvious  method  of  prevention  is  to  sterilize  all 
drinking-water.  This  is  best  accomplished  by  heat ;  but  it  is 
not  sufficient  to  give  directions  that  all  water  used  for  drinking 
must  be  boiled.  There  must  be  some  one  to  see  that  a  sufficient 
supply  of  sterilized  water,  properly  cooled,  is  always  available, 
and  that  none  other  is  used.  We  cannot  depend  upon  precept 
alone,  when  it  is  a  question  of  protecting  soldiers  or  laborers 
from  the  invisible  foes  which  surround  them.  They  are  accus- 
tomed to  judging  of  the  purity  of  water  by  its  taste  and 
appearance,  and  to  drinking  any  water  at  hand  when  they  are 
thirsty.     .     .     . 

The  conditions  under  which  laborers  must  live,  while 
engaged  in  the  work  of  excavating  an  isthmian  canal,  are  in 
many  respects  similar  to  those  under  which  our  soldiers  were 
assembled  in  camps  of  instruction  during  the  Spanish-American 
war,  with  the  added  dangers  due  to  a  tropical  environment.  If 
questions  relating  to  water  supply  and  sewerage  are  postponed 
until  after  the  laborers  are  assembled  in  the  localities  where 
the  work  is  to  be  done,  defilement  of  the  camp  site  and  con- 
tamination of  the  local  water  supplies  will  almost  certainly 
occur.  The  ignorance  and  recklessness  with  reference  to  sani- 
tary matters  of  the  average  soldier,  sailor  and  laborer  have 
been  demonstrated  by  sad  experience ;  and  the  inexorable  laws 
of  nature  will  inevitably  cause  the  same  disastrous  results  in 
the  future  as  in  the  past  unless  we  take  advantage  of  the  light 
shed  by  science  upon  the  cause  and  prevention  of  those  fatal 


LAST    CONTRIBUTIONS  269 

epidemic  diseases  which  during  past  centuries  have  scourged 
the  human  race.  To  ignore  the  teachings  of  sanitary  science, 
at  the  outset  of  the  twentieth  century,  would  be  both  criminal 
and  disgraceful.  In  tropical  and  semi-tropical  regions,  neglect 
of  sanitary  police  and  contamination  of  the  water  supply  are 
the  common  causes  of  other  infectious  maladies  which  may 
even  exceed  typhoid  fever  in  the  numbers  of  their  victims. 
Among  these  we  may  mention  especially  tropical  dysentery, 
chronic  diarrhea,  and  the  disorders  due  to  various  intestinal 
parasites.  This  whole  group  of  diseases  may  be  avoided  if  no 
food  or  drink  is  taken  which  contains  the  germs  or  ova  which 
give  rise  to  them. 

But  how  about  the  so-called  "climatic  diseases"  ?  Can  these 
be  avoided?  Certainly  they  can;  for,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  no 
infectious  diseases  are  directly  due  to  climatic  influences, 
although  climate  has  much  to  do  with  the  prevalence  of  some 
of  these  diseases  when  the  germs  to  which  they  are  due  are 
introduced  to  a  given  locality.  Thus  malarial  fever  and  yellow 
fever  prevail  only  where  climatic  conditions  are  favorable  for 
the  propagation  of  the  species  of  mosquitoes  by  which  the 
parasites  to  which  these  diseases  are  due  are  transmitted  from 
man  to  man.  Mosquitoes  cannot  multiply  unless  they  can  find 
water  in  which  to  deposit  their  eggs,  and  in  which  their  larvae 
can  thrive.  They  lose  their  activity  and  soon  die  when  exposed 
to  a  temperature  below  the  freezing  point.  Therefore,  malarial 
fever  and  yellow  fever  are  diseases  of  tropical  and  semi-tropi- 
cal regions,  or  of  the  summer  months  in  the  temperate  zone; 
and  they  do  not  prevail  in  elevated  and  arid  regions,  even  in 
the  tropics. 

I  shall  not  attempt  in  this  paper  to  present  the  evidence 
which  justifies  the  assertion  that  malarial  fever  and  yellow 
fever  are  contracted  through  "bites"  of  mosquitoes.  The 
scientific  demonstration  that  this  is  a  fact  is  complete,  and  is 
accepted  by  well-informed  physicians  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 
This  knowledge  has  been  gained  so  recently,  however,  that 
the  public,  generally,  and  many  men  of  science  whose  studies 
have  been  in  other  fields  of  investigation,  are  not  fully  con- 
vinced that  their  preconceived  notions  with  reference  to  the 
etiology  of  these  diseases  are  wrong.  I  may  say  to  these  per- 
sons, in  brief,  that  we  know  the  malarial  parasite,  which  dif- 
fers somewhat  in  different  types  of  malarial  fever,  as  well  as 
the  ornithologist  knows  his  birds,  or  the  farmer  different  kinds 
of  grain  which  he  sows.  We  know  the  different  stages  of  its 
development  in  man  and  in  the  bodies  of  infected  mosquitoes ; 
we  recognize  it  in  the  blood  of  patients,  and  unhesitatingly 
found  our  diagnosis  upon  the  result  of  a  microscopical  examin- 
ation of  such  blood.     Finally,  it  has  been  proved  that  persons 


270  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

may  remain  indefinitely  in  the  most  intensely  malarious 
regions,  such  as  the  Roman  Campagna,  without  contracting 
malarial  fever,  if  they  are  protected  from  the  bites  of  mosqui- 
toes by  gauze  mosquito-netting.  The  climate  of  itself  is  not 
only  harmless,  but  salubrious.  We  may  safely  say  the  same 
of  the  climate  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  If  we  can  protect 
the  laborers  on  the  isthmian  canal  from  the  bites  of  mosquitoes, 
they  will  enjoy  an  entire  immunity  from  the  deadly  infectious 
maladies  which  have  been  the  scourge  of  the  coast  regions  of 
the  Caribbean  Sea,  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the  West  Indies 
for  centuries. 

But  how  is  this  to  be  accomplished?  A  man  cannot  work 
under  a  mosquito  bar.  No ;  but  he  can  sleep  under  one,  and 
he  should  be  compelled  to  do  so  when  his  health  is  a  matter 
of  prime  importance  to  his  employer.  It  has  long  been  known 
that  "exposure  to  the  night  air"  in  malarious  regions  is  espe- 
cially dangerous,  and  now  we  know  the  reason.  Mosquitoes 
seek  their  food  mostly  at  night ;  and  man,  when  not  protected 
by  a  mosquito  bar,  is  especially  exposed  to  their  attacks  while 
he  is  asleep.  That  sleeping  under  a  mosquito  bar  affords  a 
certain  amount  of  protection  from  attacks  of  malarial  fever, 
has  been  repeatedly  reported  by  travelers  in  tropical  regions, 
but  the  explanation  of  this  alleged  fact  is  of  recent  date. 

We  have  recent  evidence  that  a  properly  conducted  war 
upon  the  mosquito,  and  especially  upon  its  breeding  places, 
may  lead  to  notable  results  in  diminishing  the  numbers  of  the 
pestiferous  insect.  Witness  the  success  obtained  by  Major 
Gorgas,  Surgeon,  U.  S.  A.,  during  the  summer  of  1901,  in 
restricting  the  prevalence  of  yellow  fever  in  Havana,  by  mak- 
ing war  upon  the  mosquito,  which  has  been  proved  by  Major 
Reed  and  his  associates  to  be  the  active  agent  in  transmitting 
this  disease  from  man  to  man.  As  another  instance  of  what 
may  be  accomplished  by  intelligent  efforts  and  a  reasonable 
amount  of  money,  I  call  attention  to  the  work  done  by  Mr. 
Henry  Clay  Weeks  on  Centre  Island  and  its  vicinity. 

It  has  long  been  known  that  excavating  the  soil  in  so-called 
"malarious  regions"  is  very  likely  to  be  followed  by  a  serious 
outbreak  of  malarial  fever,  or  sometimes  of  yellow  fever.  This 
we  can  now  understand.  Such  excavations  lead  to  the  forma- 
tion of  pools  of  rain-water,  which  afford  the  best  possible 
breeding  places  for  mosquitoes.  As  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Weeks, 
the  two  principal  methods  of  fighting  mosquitoes  out-of-doors 
consist  in  drainage  and  the  use  of  petroleum.  All  pools  of 
standing  water  are  to  be  done  away  with  by  drainage,  if  pos- 
sible. If  not,  the  surface  is  to  be  covered  by  a  film  of  petro- 
leum, which  quickly  destroys  the  larvae  of  the  mosquito  when 
they  come  to  the  surface  to  breathe.  What  has  been  under- 
taken in  a  small  way  on  Centre  Island  should  be  carried  out, 


LAST    CONTRIBUTIONS  271 

with  all  the  energy  and  resources  that  money  and  competent 
supervision  can  command,  along  the  line  of  the  isthmian  canal. 
Let  us  remember  that  we  are  undertaking  this  great  work  at 
the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century,  and  that  the  means  of 
preserving  the  health  of  those  employed  are  as  important  for 
the  success  of  the  enterprise  as  the  perfection  of  the  steam 
ploughs  and  diamond-pointed  drills  which  will  be  used. 

In  the  army,  we  have  a  well-trained  medical  corps,  every 
member  of  which  realizes  that  the  preservation  of  the  health 
of  our  soldiers  is  a  more  important  matter,  even,  than  the 
treatment  of  the  sick  and  wounded.  To  aid  in  this  work,  we 
have  a  body  of  trained  enlisted  men — the  Hospital  Corps — 
equal  to  about  four  per  cent,  of  the  enlisted  strength  of  the 
army.  The  army  of  laborers  which  will  be  sent  to  the  isthmus 
will  require  a  sanitary  corps  having  a  personnel  at  least  as 
great  in  proportion  to  the  number  employed  as  is  provided  for 
our  army  in  the  Philippines.  At  the  head  of  this  sanitary 
service,  we  should  have  a  man  fully  informed  as  to  the  sanitary 
problems  which  are  to  be  encountered  and  the  best  methods  of 
meeting  them,  and  also  of  demonstrated  executive  ability. 
Under  him  should  be  sanitary  engineers,  expert  sanitary 
inspectors,  and  a  corps  of  intelligent  men  employed  especially 
for  the  sanitary  service.  He  should  be  given  the  necessary 
money  and  autocratic  power  for  the  execution  of  sanitary 
measures  for  the  protection  of  the  health  of  the  employees 
engaged  in  the  construction  of  the  canal.  He  should  also  have 
general  direction  of  the  medical  service,  including  the  estab- 
lishment of  hospitals  at  properly  located  points,  the  purchase 
of  medical  supplies,  etc.  He  should  select  the  medical  staff 
for  service  at  these  hospitals  and  at  the  various  camps  or 
stations  where  the  work  is  in  progress.  The  physicians  at  these 
stations  should  be  required  to  make  frequent  inspections  of 
the  employees,  for  the  purpose  of  placing  upon  sick-report  or 
in  hospital  any  man  who  has  fever  or  dysentery,  or  any  other 
symptom  indicating  that  he  is  unfit  to  work.  Rest,  suitable 
diet,  and  proper  medication  will  often  restore  such  person  to 
perfect  health  in  a  short  time.  But  if  left  to  their  own  devices, 
soldiers  and  laborers  often  fail  to  report  for  treatment  in  the 
early  stages  of  a  serious  malady,  when  treatment  would  be 
most  efficacious,  and  not  only  endanger  their  own  chances  of 
recovery,  but,  in  the  case  of  certain  infectious  diseases,  place 
their  comrades  in  danger. 

It  is  in  this  way  that  epidemics  often  have  their  origin. 
Mild  and  unrecognized  cases  of  typhoid  fever,  of  yellow  fever, 
or  of  cholera  are  more  dangerous,  from  a  sanitary  point  of 
view,  than  severe  and  fatal  cases  which  are  promptly  recog- 


272  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

nized  and  properly  cared  for.  Careful  sanitary  supervision  is 
therefore  essential ;  it  is,  moreover,  economical  in  the  interest 
of  the  canal  and  of  the  government  which  has  undertaken  to 
construct  it,  as  well  as  of  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  actual 
work  of  excavation. 

In  the  army,  for  military  reasons,  the  medical  department 
is  not  given  any  direct  authority  for  the  execution  of  sanitary 
measures  outside  of  the  general  and  post  hospitals,  which  are 
under  the  direct  command  of  medical  officers.  The  command- 
ing officer  of  a  camp  or  of  a  military  post  is  responsible  for 
the  execution  of  necessary  measures  which  may  be  recom- 
mended by  the  Surgeon-General  of  the  army,  or  by  the  surgeon 
of  his  command,  or  which  may  be  required  by  army  regulations 
and  general  orders  from  the  War  Department.  In  carrying 
out  these  sanitary  measures  the  medical  department  has  only 
an  advisory  function.  An  officer  of  the  line,  or  of  the  engineer 
corps,  or  of  the  Quartermaster's  department,  is  detailed,  with 
enlisted  men  or  civilian  employees  to  assist  him,  to  dig  the 
sewer,  or  lay  the  water  pipes,  or  drain  the  swamp,  etc. ;  and 
the  general  sanitary  police  of  the  post  or  camp  is  maintained 
by  a  detail  of  enlisted  men,  or  by  a  squad  of  general  prisoners 
under  the  direction  of  a  "police  sergeant,"  or  in  some  cases  by 
civilian  employees  engaged  for  this  special  service.  Whether 
this  method  is  best  for  the  army  has  been  seriously  questioned ; 
and  it  is  contended  by  some  medical  officers  that  better  results 
would  be  obtained  if  more  authority  were  given  to  the  medical 
officers,  and  they  were  made  responsible  for  the  carrying  out 
of  necessary  sanitary  measures,  and  not  simply  for  making 
suitable  recommendations.  However  this  may  be,  there  can 
be  no  question  that  the  sanitary  service  on  the  line  of  the  isth- 
mian canal  should  be  under  one  head,  and  that  the  carrying 
out  of  measures  for  the  prevention  of  disease  and  the  care  of 
the  sick  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  competent  "medical 
director,"  having  an  efficient  staff  and  full  power  to  act  in 
accordance  with  his  best  judgment  for  the  accomplishment  of 
the  desired  results. 

The  cost  of  such  a  sanitary  service  would  not  be  inconsid- 
erable, but  it  would  not  be  great  when  considered  in  connection 
with  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  the  work;  and  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  affirm  that,  from  an  economic  point  of  view,  such 
a  sanitary  service  as  I  have  indicated  would  greatly  reduce  the 
cost  of  constructing  the  canal,  and  would  shorten  the  time 
required  for  its  completion. 

A  single  epidemic  of  yellow  fever  occurring  among  the 
employees  along  the  line  of  the  canal,  at  a  time  when  the  work 
was  being  actively  prosecuted,  would,  without  doubt,  be  more 
expensive  than  the  cost  of  an  efficient  sanitary  service  during 
the  entire  period  of  construction. 


LAST    CONTRIBUTIONS  273 

HISTORY    OF    THE    YELLOW    FEVER    BOARD 

Spurred  on  by  the  advice  of  his  intimate  friends  and  stimu- 
lated by  the  promised  attendance  of  some  of  his  scientific 
co-workers  from  Latin  America,  General  Sternberg  summar- 
ized, for  presentation  before  the  Pan-American  Scientific  Con- 
gress in  1915,  th'e  "Researches  Relating  to  the  Etiology  of 
Yellow  Fever  Which  Culminated  in  the  Findings  of  the  Reed 
Board." 

It  is  generally  recognized  that  the  demonstration  that  yellow 
fever  is  transmitted  by  mosquitoes  of  the  genus  Stegomyia  is 
one  of  the  greatest  achievements  of  modern  sciences.  And 
the  credit  for  this  demonstration  is  justly  given  to  the  com- 
mission of  which  Maj.  Walter  Reed,  Surgeon,  U.  S.  Army, 
was  president,  which  was  sent  to  Havana  in  1900,  on  the  rec- 
ommendation of  the  writer,  then  Surgeon-General  of  the  Army. 

Doctor  Carlos  Finlay  of  Havana  had  long  before  conceived 
the  idea  that  the  disease  under  consideration  is  transmitted  by 
mosquitoes,  and  full  credit  should  be  given  him  for  persistently 
advocating  this  theory,  although  his  own  experiments  failed  to 
furnish  any  satisfactory  proof  that  his  theory  was  well 
founded.  Indeed,  such  proof  was  wanting  in  the  earlier 
experiments  of  the  Reed  Board,  and  it  was  not  until,  as  a  final 
experiment,  the  mosquitoes,  after  filling  themselves  with  blood 
from  a  yellow  fever  patient,  were  kept  for  ten  or  twelve  days 
before  allowing  them  to  bite  a  susceptible  individual,  that  suc- 
cess was  attained. 

In  a  report  published  in  May,  1901,  Major  Reed  says:  "We 
have  thus  far  succeeded  in  conveying  yellow  fever  to  twelve 
individuals  by  means  of  the  bites  of  contaminated  mosquitoes." 
Confirmation  of  these  results  was  soon  after  afforded  by  the 
experiments  of  Dr.  Juan  Guiteras,  and  today  yellow  fever 
prophylaxis  is  successfully  based  on  this  epochmaking 
discovery. 

But  as  to  the  precise  nature  of  the  etiologic  agent,  or  "germ," 
we  are  still  uncertain,  although  in  the  present  state  of  science 
we  can  scarcely  fail  to  believe  in  a  living  germ,  which  multi- 
plies in  the  blood  of  infected  individuals,  but  which  is  so 
minute  that  it  has  not  yet  been  demonstrated  by  the  highest 
powers  of  the  microscope. 

1.  This  historical  resume  was  prepared  a  few  weeks  before  the 
lamented  death  of  General  Sternberg,  and  is  an  important  contribution 
to  the  history  of  that  momentous  period.  All  of  which  the  writer 
knew  and  a  large  part  of  which  he  was.  John  Van  R.  Hoff,  M.D. 
(Colonel,  U.  S.  Army,  Retired). 


274  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

I  have  no  new  facts  to  add  to  our  knowledge  of  yellow  fever 
etiology.  But  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  a  brief  account  of 
the  investigations  which  led  up  to  the  demonstration  that 
yellow  fever  is  transmitted  by  mosquitoes  might  be  of  some 
interest  to  the  members  of  the  Pan  American  Scientific  Con- 
gress. Such  an  account  must  begin  with  the  Havana  Yellow 
Fever  Commission  of  1879. 

The  wide  extent  and  great  mortality  of  the  yellow  fever 
epidemic  of  1878  led  to  the  organization  of  a  U.  S.  National 
Board  of  Health.  And  it  was  evidently  expected  that  one  of 
the  most  important  duties  of  this  board  would  be  to  attempt 
to  devise  methods  for  the  prevention  of  similar  epidemics. 

Among  the  members  of  this  National  Board  of  Health  was 
Dr.  S.  M.  Bemis  of  New  Orleans,  who  no  doubt  had  much 
to  do  with  the  selection  of  the  members  of  the  commission 
which  it  was  decided  should  be  sent  to  Havana  to  study  the 
disease  in  one  of  its  principal  endemic  foci.  The  membership 
of  this  commission  was  as  follows:  President,  Dr.  Stanford 
E.  Chaille,  New  Orleans,  Secretary,  Surgeon  George  M.  Stern- 
berg, U.  S.  Army;  Dr.  Juan  Guiteras,  U.  S.  Marine  Hospital 
Service,  and  Mr.  T.  S.  Hardee,  a  civil  engineer  of  New 
Orleans.  Mr.  Rudolph  Matas  of  New  Orleans  was  appointed 
clerk  to  the  commission,  and  Mr.  Henry  Mancel,  a  Frenchman 
living  in  New  Orleans,  was  engaged  as  photographer. 

In  the  division  of  our  work  it  was  decided  that  Dr.  Chaille 
should  make  investigations  relating  to  the  prevalence  of  yellow 
fever  in  the  island  of  Cuba.  This  he  did  in  a  most  compre- 
hensive manner,  as  is  shown  by  his  published  report  to  the 
National  Board  of  Health.  Doctor  Guiteras  undertook  the 
search  for  micro-organisms  and  for  pathologic  changes  in  the 
tissues  of  yellow  fever  cadavers.  This  he  did,  secundum 
artem,  but  his  painstaking  labors  did  not  throw  any  new  light 
on  the  etiology  of  the  disease.  To  me  was  assigned  the  exam- 
ination of  the  blood,  culture  experiments,  and  experiments  on 
lower  animals.  It  would  be  tedious  to  attempt  to  give  details 
of  my  numerous  experiments  and  observations,  but  I  may  say 
that  I  failed  to  find  any  micro-organisms  in  the  blood  of  living 
patients  drawn  on  different  days  of  sickness  and  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  producing  any  symptoms  resembling  yellow  fever  in 
the  lower  animals  subjected  to  experiment. 

I  may  say  that  in  advance  of  my  visit  to  Havana  I  had  strong 
hopes  that,  by  modern  methods  of  research,  the  germ  of  this 
infectious  disease  might  be  found  in  the  blood,  and  I  was  pre- 
pared to  photograph  it  if  found.  I  was  provided  with  Zeiss 
1/12  and  1/18  inch  homogeneous  oil  immersion  objectives  and 
I  had  received  instructions  in  the  art  of  making  photomicro- 
graphs from  Surgeon  J.  J.  Woodward,  U.  S.  Army,  a  pioneer 


Havana  Yellow  Fever  Commission,  1879. 


1.   Dr.    George    M.    Sternberg. 
4.    ])r.     Stanford     E.    Chaille. 


2.    Dr.    Juan    Guiteras.      .5. 
5.    Mr.     A.  II.     Pay].,:'.       n. 


Dr.    Daniel    M.    Burgee 
Dr.    Rudolph    Mates. 


Figure  4 


Figure   1 


i ;'% 


Figure  3 


Figure  5 


•    < 


o 


Fig.    1. — Yellow    fever    blood;    fifth    day;    fatal    case.  X  1,450. 

Fig.    2.— Yellow    fever   blood;    first   day;    fatal    case.  X  1,450. 

Fig.    3.— Yellow    fever   blood;    fifth    day;    fatal    case.  X  1,450. 

Fig.    4.    -Leukocyte   in    yellow    fever   blood   kept    in   a   culture  cell   for   two   days, 
eighth    day;    fatal    case.      X  650. 

Fig.    5.      Leukocyte    in    yellow     fever    blood    kept    in    culture  cell    for    two    days; 
eighth  day;  fatal  case   (same  as  Fig.  3).      X  650. 


LAST    CONTRIBUTIONS  275 

and  recognized  expert  in  the  art  at  the  Army  Medical  Museum. 
Ninety-eight  specimens  from  forty-one  undoubted  cases  of 
yellow  fever  were  carefully  studied,  with  a  completely  negative 
result,  so  far  as  micro-organisms  were  concerned.  My  photo- 
micrographs were  mostly  made  with  a  magnifying  power  of 
1,450  diameters,  obtained  by  the  use  of  a  Zeiss  1/18  inch 
objective  and  a  Tolles  amplifier. 

I  have  a  reproduction  of  a  plate  illustrating  my  report  on 
the  etiology  and  prevention  of  yellow  fever,  published  in  1890. 
These  photographs  of  yellow  fever  blood  were  made  in  Havana 
in  1879.  The  report  embodies  the  researches  made  by  me  sub- 
sequent to  the  return  of  the  yellow  fever  commission.  In  it 
I  say: 

"The  investigations  to  which  this  report  relates  were  made 
in  the  city  of  Havana,  in  the  summers  of  1888  and  1889 ;  in 
the  city  of  Decatur,  Ala.,  in  the  autumn  of  1888;  and  in  the 
laboratories  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  where  I  have 
continued  my  researches  during  the  intervals  between  my  visits 
to  the  infected  localities,  and  since  my  return  from  Havana, 
in  September,  1889,  up  to  the  present  date." 

"My  bacteriologic  studies  have  been  made  with  material 
obtained  from  forty-three  yellow  fever  cadavers;  from  'black 
vomit'  and  feces  of  patients  in  various  stages  of  the  disease ; 
and  from  comparison,  from  eighteen  cadavers  in  which  death 
occurred  from  some  other  disease  than  yellow  fever,  and  from 
feces  of  healthy  individuals." 

After  the  extended  researches  in  this  report  I  state  my  con- 
clusions as  follows : 

"The  experimental  data  recorded  in  this  report  show  that: 

The  specific  infectious  agent  in  yellow  fever  has  not  been 
demonstrated. 

The  most  approved  bacteriologic  methods  fail  to  demonstrate 
the  constant  presence  of  any  particular  micro-organisms  in  the 
blood  and  tissues  of  yellow  fever  cadavers. 

The  micro-organisms  which  are  sometimes  obtained  in  cul- 
tures from  the  blood  and  tissues  are  present  in  comparatively 
small  numbers,  and  the  one  most  frequently  found  (Bacterium 
coli  commune}  is  present  in  the  intestines  of  healthy  individ- 
uals, and  consequently  its  occasional  presence  can  not  have  any 
etiologic  import. 

A  few  scattered  bacilli  are  present  in  the  liver  and  probably 
in  other  organs,  at  the  moment  of  death.  This  is  shown  by 
preserving  portions  of  liver,  obtained  at  recent  autopsy,  in  an 
antiseptic  wrapping. 

At  the  end  of  from  twenty-four  to  forty-eight  hours  the 
interior  of  a  piece  of  liver  so  preserved  contains  a  large  num- 
ber of  bacilli  of  various  species,  the  most  abundant  being  those 


276  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

heretofore  mentioned  as  occasionally  found  in  fresh  liver 
tissue,  viz.,  Bacterium  coli  commune  and  Bacillus  cadaveris." 

"Having  failed  to  demonstrate  the  presence  of  a  specific 
"germ"  in  the  blood  and  tissues  it  seemed  possible  that  it  is  to 
be  found  in  the  alimentary  canal,  as  is  the  case  in  cholera.  But 
the  extended  researches  made  and  recorded  in  the  present 
report  show  that  the  contents  of  the  intestines  of  yellow  fever 
cases  contain  a  great  variety  of  bacilli  and  not  a  nearly  pure 
culture  of  a  single  species,  as  is  the  case  in  recent  and  typical 
cases  of  cholera." 

"On  the  other  hand  nonliquefying  bacilli  are  very  abundant. 

The  one  most  constantly  and  abundantly  present  is  the  Bac- 
terium coli  commune  of  Escherich. 

This  is  associated  with  various  other  bacilli,  some  of  which 
are  strict  anaerobics  and  some  facultative  anaerobics. 

Among  the  facultative  anaerobics  is  one — my  Bacillus  X — 
which  has  been  isolated  by  the  culture  method  in  a  consider- 
able number  of  cases  and  may  have  been  present  in  all.  This 
bacillus  has  not  been  encountered  in  the  comparative  experi- 
ments made.  It  is  very  pathogenic  for  rabbits  when  injected 
into  the  cavity  of  the  abdomen. 

It  is  possible  that  this  bacillus  is  concerned  in  the  etiology 
of  yellow  fever,  but  no  satisfactory  evidence  that  this  is  the 
case  has  been  obtained  by  experiments  on  the  lower  animals, 
and  it  has  not  been  found  in  such  numbers  as  to  warrant  the 
inference  that  it  is  the  veritable  infectious  agent. 

All  other  micro-organisms  obtained  in  pure  cultures  from 
yellow  fever  cadavers  appear  to  be  excluded,  either  by  having 
been  identified  with  known  species,  or  by  having  been  found 
in  comparative  researches  made  outside  of  the  area  of  yellow 
fever  prevalence,  or  by  the  fact  that  they  have  been  found  only 
in  small  numbers  and  in  a  limited  number  of  cases." 

It  will  be  seen  that  I  did  not  positively  exclude  my  Bacillus 
X  as  a  possible  etiologic  factor,  but  I  say  that  it  was  not  found 
"in  such  numbers  as  to  warrant  the  inference  that  it  is  the 
veritable  infectious  agent."  In  1893  I  was  appointed  Surgeon- 
General  of  the  Army,  and  my  opportunities  for  personal 
research  work  ceased.  My  published  reports  had  apparently 
satisfied  the  profession  that  the  various  claims  which  had  been 
made  for  the  discovery  of  the  specific  germ  of  yellow  fever 
had  no  substantial  foundation.  Among  these  were  the  claims 
of  Domingos  Freire  of  Brazil,  of  Carmona  y  Valle  of  Mexico, 
of  Carlos  Finlay  x  of  Havana,  and  of  Paul  Gibier  of  France. 

Since  my  report  above  referred  to  was  published  a  new 
claimant  appeared,  viz.,  the  Italian  bacteriologist,  Sanarelli. 
His  researches  were  made  in  Brazil,  and,  singularly  enough, 

1.  His  micrococcus  tetragenus   febris  flavae. 


LAST    CONTRIBUTIONS  277 

he  found  in  the  blood  of  the  first  case  examined  by  him  a  bacil- 
lus. It  was  present  in  large  numbers,  but  this  case  is  unique, 
for  neither  Sanarelli  nor  anyone  else  has  since  found  it  in  such 
abundance.  It  has  been  found  in  small  numbers  in  the  blood 
and  tissues  of  yellow  fever  cadavers  in  a  certain  number  of 
cases  examined.  For  a  time  I  thought  it  probable  that  Sana- 
relli's  bacillus  was  identical  with  my  Bacillus  X.  But  the 
researches  of  the  Reed  board  identified  it  with  the  bacillus  of 
hog  cholera,  while  my  Bacillus  X  appeared  to  them  to  belong 
to  the  colon  group.  The  bacillus  of  Sanarelli  had  a  certain 
amount  of  standing  for  a  time  because  two  medical  officers  of 
the  U.  S.  Marine  Hospital  Service,  who  had  been  sent  to 
Havana  to  study  yellow  fever,  made  a  report  favorable  to  the 
claims  of  Sanarelli.  But  the  researches  of  Reed,  Carroll  and 
Agramonte  have  demonstrated  conclusively  that  this  bacillus 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  etiology  of  yellow  fever. 

At  the  present  date  Dr.  Aristides  Agramonte  is  the  only 
living  member  of  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission  appointed 
upon  my  recommendation  in  1900.  Major  Walter  Reed,  Sur- 
geon U.  S.  Army,  was  selected  as  president  of  this  commission 
because  he  was  a  trained  bacteriologist  and  at  the  time  of  his 
appointment  was  in  charge  of  our  bacteriologic  laboratory  at 
the  Army  Medical  Museum.  He  died  in  Washington  from 
appendicitis,  Nov.  23,  1902,  aged  51.  Since  his  death  various 
articles  published  in  the  newspapers  have  stated  that  he  died 
as  a  result  of  his  yellow  fever  investigations.  This  is  a  mis- 
take. Dr.  Reed  was  in  Washington  at  the  time  that  Dr.  Car- 
roll made,  on  himself,  the  first  successful  yellow  fever  inocu- 
lation, and  he  was  not  inoculated. 

Dr.  James  Carroll  died  in  Washington,  March  9,  1907,  of 
myocarditis  which  was  believed  by  his  physicians  to  have 
resulted  from  the  severe  attack  of  yellow  fever  which  he 
suffered  in  1900.  Dr.  Jesse  W.  Lazear,  Contract  Surgeon,  U. 
S.  Army,  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  commission  because 
he  had  had  special  training  as  a  bacteriologist.  He  died  at 
Camp  Columbia,  Cuba,  of  yellow  fever,  Sept.  25,  1900.  His 
attack  was  attributed  to  the  bite  of  a  mosquito,  while  he  was 
visiting  the  wards  of  a  yellow  fever  hospital. 

The  written  instructions  given  by  me  to  this  selected  board 
of  experts  were  as  follows : 

"You  will  naturally  give  special  attention  to  questions  relat- 
ing to  the  etiology  and  prevention  of  yellow  fever.  As  you 
are  familiar  with  what  has  already  been  done  by  other  bac- 
teriologists in  this  field  of  investigation,  I  do  not  consider  it 
necessary  to  give  you  any  suggestions  or  detailed  instructions. 
But  it  is  evident  that  the  most  important  question  which  will 
occupy  your  attention  is  that  which  relates  to  the  etiology  of  this 
disease. 


278  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

You  will  also  take  advantage  of  such  opportunities  as  may 
offer  for  the  study  of  other  infectious  diseases,  and  especially 
of  the  malarial  fevers  prevailing  on  the  island  of  Cuba.  An 
important  question  in  connection  with  the  disease  of  tropical 
and  semitropical  countries  relates  to  the  etiology  of  febrile 
attacks  of  short  duration,  to  which  strangers  are  especially 
subject.  Should  you  have  time,  there  will  be  ample  opportunity 
for  the  study  of  leprosy  in  the  lepers'  hospital  in  the  city  of 
Havana.  Attention  should  also  be  given  to  the  infectious  dis- 
eases of  the  lower  animals,  in  case  any  such  prevail,  the 
etiology  of  which  has  not  been  definitely  determined." 

In  addition  to  these  written  instructions  I  talked  freely  with 
Major  Reed,  president  of  the  Commission,  and  gave  him  my 
views  as  to  the  most  promising  lines  of  experiments  relating 
to  the  etiology  of  yellow  fever. 

I  urged  that  efforts  should  be  made  to  ascertain  definitely 
whether  the  disease  can  be  communicated  from  man  to  man 
by  blood  inoculations.  Evidently  if  this  is  the  case  the  blood 
must  contain  the  living  infectious  agent  on  which  the  propa- 
gation of  the  disease  depends,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  all 
attempts  to  demonstrate  the  presence  of  such  a  germ  in  the 
blood,  by  means  of  the  microscope  and  culture  methods,  had 
proved  unavailing.  I  had  previously  demonstrated  by  repeated 
experiments  that  inoculations  of  yellow  fever  blood  into  lower 
animals — dogs,  rabbits,  guinea-pigs — give  a  negative  result,  but 
this  negative  result  might  be  because  these  animals  were  not 
susceptible  to  the  disease  and  could  not  be  accepted  as  showing 
that  the  germ  of  yellow  fever  was  not  present  in  the  blood. 
A  single  inoculation  experiment  on  man  had  been  made  in  my 
presence,  in  the  city  of  Vera  Cruz,  in  1887,  by  Dr.  Daniel  Ruiz, 
who  was  in  charge  of  the  civil  hospital  in  that  city.  But  this 
experiment  was  inconclusive  for  the  reason  that  the  patient 
from  whom  the  blood  was  obtained  was  in  the  eighth  day  of 
the  disease,  and  it  was  quite  possible  that  the  specific  germ 
might  have  been  present  at  an  earlier  period  and  that  after  a 
certain  number  of  days  the  natural  resources  of  the  body  are 
sufficient  to  effect  its  destruction,  or  in  some  way  to  cause  its 
disappearance  from  the  circulation. 

I  was  especially  anxious  that  this  experiment  should  be 
repeated  with  the  blood  taken  from  a  case  in  the  early  stages 
of  the  disease.  I  had  not  been  able  to  make  the  experiment 
on  myself,  as  I  was  immune,  having  suffered  a  severe  attack 
of  yellow  fever  in  1875. 

The  Reed  Commission  made  this  experiment  with  success 
after  having  demonstrated  that  the  disease  could  be  transmit- 
ted by  mosquitoes  which  had  been  kept  for  ten  or  twelve  days 
after  biting  a  yellow  fever  patient.     It  is  evident  that  if  the 


LAST    CONTRIBUTIONS  279 

experiment  had  been  made  at  the  outset  of  the  investigation 
a  similar  success  would  have  led  inevitably  to  the  conclusion 
that  yellow  fever,  like  malarial  fever,  is  transmitted  by  an  inter- 
mediate host,  and  that  this  intermediate  host  is  a  mosquito. 

So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  there  is  nothing  more  to  be  said 
about  yellow  fever  etiology,  and  my  excuse  for  writing  this 
brief  paper  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  present  genera- 
tion of  physicians  had  not  appeared  on  the  stage  when  Profes- 
sor Chaille,  Dr.  Juan  Guiteras  and  myself  visited  Havana  in 
1879,  for  the  purpose  of  studying  yellow  fever,  and  probably 
few  of  the  members  of  the  profession  have  seen  my  published 
report  of  subsequent  investigations  made  by  me. 

The  following  letter  is  here  introduced  as  especially  inter- 
esting in  connection  with  Dr.  Sternberg's  research  in  yellow 
fever. 

April  13,  1915. 
My  dear  General  Sternberg: — 

A  group  of  kindred  spirits  were  discussing  the  eminent 
workers  in  American  science  the  other  evening  and  we  all 
agreed  not  only  in  placing  you  among  the  foremost,  but  the 
first  pioneer.  It  may  also  be  some  satisfaction  for  you  to 
know  that  in  our  judgment  Dame  Fortune  played  you  scurvy 
tricks,  for  the  same  amount  of  skill  and  energy  devoted  to 
plague,  cholera,  typhoid  fever  or  any  of  the  ordinary  bacterial 
infections  would  have  solved  these  riddles.  However,  in 
attacking  the  cause  of  yellow  fever,  you  originated  many 
methods  which  were  afterwards  used  with  success,  and  fur- 
thermore, cleared  away  the  brush,  or  rather  you  blazed 
the  trail  which  made  it  so  much  easier  for  those  who 
followed.     .     .     . 

Very  truly  yours, 

M.  J.  Rosenau. 


CHAPTER     TWENTY 
GENERAL    STERNBERG'S    DEATH 

Although  General  Sternberg  had  been  in  delicate  health  for 
several  years,  his  interest  in  civic  and  philanthropic  activities 
remained  unabated.  He  rarely  missed  a  board  meeting  and  he 
continued  to  render  active  service  as  president  of  the  housing 
companies,  the  Association  for  the  Prevention  of  Tubercu- 
losis and  of  several  hospital  boards  up  to  within  ten  days  of 
his  death.  Peacefully  and  quietly  in  the  early  morning  hours, 
November  3,  1915,  came  the  end,  that  end  which  despite  antic- 
ipation or  expectation  was  felt  as  a  shock  through  a  wide  circle 
of  friends  and  admirers. 

MEMOIRS     OF     GENERAL     STERNBERG 

General  Sternberg's  character  and  personality  may  be  best 
evaluated  by  the  estimate  of  his  associates.  On  his  seventieth 
birthday  (June  8,  1908),  a  host  of  official  and  personal  friends 
had  presented  a  loving  cup  as  a  token  of  their  esteem,  and  on 
this  occasion,  touching  tributes  were  paid  to  him. 

STERNBERG     THE     MEDICAL    OFFICER 

Maj.  Walter  D.  McCaw,  M.C.,  U.  S.  Army,  taking  as  his 
theme  General  Sternberg's  character  as  a  medical  officer,  said : 

It  is  always  a  pleasant  thing  to  speak  good  of  others ;  it  is 
said  to  be  a  highly  laudable  thing  to  do  so  even  when  there  is 
little  to  be  said,  and  much  to  be  covered  by  the  mantle  of 
charity ;  but  it  is  a  delight  to  honor  a  good  man  in  the  presence 
of  his  fellows,  when  his  hair  has  whitened  in  the  service  of  his 
country,  when  his  whole  life  presents  a  continuous  record  of 
duty  well  done,  of  original  work  and  discovery  for  the  benefit 
of  others,  of  some  distinct  addition  made  to  the  sum  total  of 
human  happiness. 

Our  honored  guest  of  tonight  is  well  known  to  all  here  as  a 
scientist,  as  a  philanthropist,  as  a  broad-minded  citizen ;  he  is 
also,  of  course,  known  to  you  as  the  Surgeon-General  of  the 
Army  for  over  nine  years,  but  I  doubt  if  all  here  know  what 
a  splendid  medical  officer  he  was  before  he  had  made  a  name 
in  science,  before  he  had  reached  the  chair  of  the  Surgeon- 
General. 

His  first  appearance  in  military  life  was  dramatic  enough — 
at  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  where,  before  he  had  become 
warm  in  his  new  uniform,  he  met  his  first  military  difficulty 


GENERAL    STERNBERG'S    DEATH  281 

and  characteristically  overcame  it — in  other  words,  he  was 
captured  by  the  enemy  and  promptly  escaped.  We  may  follow 
him  after  this  through  the  four  years  of  the  war,  in  the  field, 
in  the  great  hospitals  and  on  several  expeditions. 

After  the  war  he  went  West — young  medical  officers  of  the 
Army  generally  did  go  West  and  stayed  there  too — and  here 
he  soon  met  more  dangerous  foes  than  the  veteran  soldiers  of 
the  South,  for  he  went  through  one  terrible  epidemic  of  cholera 
and  later  while  serving  South,  two  epidemics  of  yellow  fever. 
He  finished  the  youthful  and  we  may  say  the  fighting  part  of 
his  service  by  an  Indian  campaign,  where  he  received  a  brevet 
for  gallantry  in  performing  his  duties  under  fire.  Not  yet 
forty  years  old — but  already  a  record  to  be  proud  of. 

Knowing  what  we  do  of  the  life  of  the  Army  on  the  frontier 
years  ago,  we  may  be  very  sure  that  many  things  occurred  in 
the  life  of  our  guest  fully  as  worthy  of  our  admiration  as  these 
bare  facts  which  the  record  shows.  Our  small  regular  army 
has  never  received  from  our  people  the  credit  due  for  its  long 
and  patient  work  in  helping  to  build  up  the  civilization  of  the 
great  West.  The  army  has  never  been  a  band  of  idlers,  fatten- 
ing upon  the  treasury  and  waiting  for  wars  that  never  came. 
There  has  never  been  a  time  that  the  army  was  not  actually 
doing  something  for  the  people.  The  fringe  of  the  civilization 
of  the  West  grew  steadily  forward  under  the  shadow  of  line 
upon  line  of  little  military  stations.  The  plains  and  hills,  where 
the  Indian  sounded  his  war  whoop  and  the  coyote  ranged  at 
will,  are  now  covered  by  farms  and  pastures,  by  cottages  and 
mansions  with  a  sturdy  and  prosperous  people.  When  one 
goes  West  now  for  the  first  time  in  a  palace  car  and  sees  the 
stars  and  stripes  floating  over  many  a  schoolhouse  he  can  form 
no  idea  of  the  long  and  perilous  journeys  of  former  days,  by 
stage  coach,  by  wagon  train  or  on  horseback,  and  the  comfort 
that  the  same  flag  brought  when  it  was  sighted  above  the  little 
camp  or  cantonment.  Under  the  protection  of  the  forts  grew 
up  humble  villages  and  scattered  ranches,  dwellings  built  of 
mud,  of  sod  or  rough-hewn  timber.  The  army  fought  for 
these  people  when  occasion  offered  (and  there  was  seldom  a 
time  when  there  was  not  fighting  somewhere  between  the 
Canadian  and  Mexican  borders),  but  it  made  life  possible  for 
the  settlers  in  many  other  ways,  and  the  lonesome  post  sur- 
geons did  their  part  manfully.  I  know  our  guest  could  tell  us 
of  many  a  weary  mile  ridden  on  errands  of  mercy,  of  many 
a  medical  and  surgical  victory  won  unaided  and  alone,  of 
many  a  native  son  or  daughter  of  the  golden  West  laid  in  the 
mother's  arms. 

At  the  close  of  his  Western  service  and  following  his  second 
yellow  fever  experience,  the  scientific  trend  of  General  Stern- 
berg's mind  began  to  show  itself  in  his  writings. 


282  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

From  now  on,  for  a  long  period  of  years,  the  government 
employed  him  to  make  many  researches  in  the  domain  of 
hygiene  and  sanitation,  and  to  investigate  epidemics,  so  that 
his  name  soon  came  to  stand  high  among  those  who  knew. 
Especially  in  the  new  and  growing  science  of  bacteriology  did 
he  achieve  honor.  Just  as  he  had  entered  the  military  service 
with  the  first  battle  of  the  war,  so  did  he  do  pioneer  work  as 
a  bacteriologist. 

While  the  immortal  Pasteur  was  at  the  height  of  his  activity, 
while  Koch  was  building  up  his  great  reputation,  while  Lister 
was  applying  the  new  science  to  rob  the  surgeon's  knife  of  its 
terrors,  General  Sternberg  was  working  and  discovering, 
becoming  first  among  the  bacteriologists  of  America. 

Finally,  after  thirty-two  years  of  service,  when  he  had  seen 
battle  and  pestilence,  when  he  had  sat  with  the  wisest  as  their 
peer,  he  was  called  to  fill  the  highest  position  in  the  medical 
department  of  the  army.  He  had  given  it  the  years  of  his 
young  manhood,  he  had  given  it  the  best  work  of  his  maturer 
life,  and  now  he  was  to  inspire  and  direct. 

His  administration  was  marked  by  the  growth  of  the  new 
science  that  had  revolutionized  medicine  and  surgery  among 
the  medical  officers  of  his  corps,  and  as  many  and  as  great  as 
have  been  General  Sternberg's  services  to  the  army,  I  believe 
his  greatest  was  that  he  always  fostered  and  directly  inculcated 
a  scientific  spirit  in  his  corps.  Every  one  who  was  willing  to 
work  received  from  him  encouragement.  All  could  get  means 
of  self-improvement — books,  instruments  and  material. 

A  second  great  gift,  which  will  be  a  monument  to  him,  'was 
the  establishment  of  the  Army  Medical  School,  which  is  now 
considered  so  indispensable,  that  graduation  thereat  is  made 
requisite  to  obtaining  a  commission  in  the  medical  corps. 

When  General  Sternberg,  after  more  than  forty  years' 
service,  laid  down  his  pen  and  vacated  his  chair  at  the  War 
Department,  he  could  look  back  upon  a  life  of  action  and 
accomplishment  that  might  have  satisfied  anyone.  He  could 
then  have  taken  his  ease  as  he  chose  without  fear  of  criticism, 
but  it  is  characteristic  of  the  man  that  relaxation  and  amuse- 
ment offered  no  attractions  to  him.  That  he  remained  and 
that  he  still  is  a  scientist,  a  worker,  a  fighter  in  the  first  rank 
against  disease  and  poverty  is  well  known. 

Others  better  qualified  than  I  will  now  tell  you  of  the  parts 
he  has  played  as  scientist,  as  philanthropist,  and  as  citizen — 
under  them  all  will  be  found  the  character  of  the  physician 
and  the  soldier.  To  quote  the  words  inscribed  on  the  com- 
mission that  every  army  officer  possesses,  underlying  all  will 
be  found  the  "patriotism,  the  valor,  the  fidelity  and  abilities" 
of  Sternberg,  the  medical  officer. 


GENERAL    STERNBERG'S    DEATH  283 

STERNBERG     THE     SCIENTIST     AND     AUTHOR 

Dr.  George  M.  Kober,  an  intimate  associate  of  General 
Sternberg  during  the  greater  part  of  his  active  career,  spoke 
of  his  attainments  as  a  scientist  and  author: 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  worth  emphasizing,  that  a  man  of 
Dr.  Sternberg's  scientific  bent  of  mind  should  have  seen  more 
active  service  on  the  battlefield  and  in  Indian  campaigns  than 
any  other  medical  officer  with  whose  record  I  am  familiar. 
His  heroic  deeds  and  brilliant  services  to  the  army  have  been 
recounted,  and  it  remains  for  me  to  speak  of  his  battles  with 
the  invisible  foes  in  infectious  diseases,  which,  after  all,  are 
more  destructive  than  bullets.  It  requires  no  less  amount  of 
courage  to  handle  day  after  day  disease  germs,  than  to  face 
the  enemy  on  the  field  of  battle.  To  have  been  one  of  the 
pioneers  in  bacteriology  is  a  distinction  of  which  any  man  may 
be  justly  proud, and  when  this  distinction  has  fallen  in  America 
to  the  lot  of  our  friend  and  fellow  citizen,  we  may  be  sure 
that  in  honoring  him  we  honor  ourselves. 

I  do  not  know  of  a  single  medical  officer  who  has  faced 
cholera  and  yellow  fever  epidemics  as  often  and  courageously 
as  our  distinguished  guest.  During  the  cholera  epidemic  at 
Fort  Harker,  Kansas,  in  1867,  he  lost  a  beloved  wife,  and  by 
a  strange  coincidence  he  was  also  the  post  surgeon  when  yellow 
fever  gained  a  foothold  among  the  troops  at  Fort  Columbus, 
New  York,  in  1871.  Having  witnessed  the  devastating  effects 
of  these  hydra-headed  diseases  and  realizing  that  medical 
science  had  not  yet  discovered  the  real  cause  of  these  scourges 
which  had  carried  off  countless  victims  and  paralyzed  the 
commerce  of  seaport  and  inland  towns,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  it  is  perfectly  natural  that  a  man  of  Dr.  Sternberg's 
sympathetic  nature  and  truly  scientific  spirit  should  have  deter- 
mined to  devote  his  life  to  the  study  of  these  mysteries. 

As  a  result  of  his  experience  and  efficient  service  at  Gov- 
ernor's Island,  he  was  ordered  to  the  yellow  fever  zone  in  1872, 
and  served  at  New  Orleans  and  Fort  Barrancas,  Florida, 
where  his  wife  courageously  accompanied  him.  At  Barrancas 
he  witnessed  two  epidemics  of  yellow  fever  in  1873  and 
1875 ;  and  during  the  latter  epidemic  he  himself  suffered  a 
severe  attack.  His  first  publication  of  scientific  value  related 
to  the  clinical  history  of  yellow  fever  as  observed  by  him 
during  these  outbreaks.  In  1876  he  was  ordered  to  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  in  the  following  year  he  was  engaged  in  an  active 
Indian  campaign  against  the  Nez  Perces  Indians,  where  he 
distinguished  himself  for  gallant  service  in  performance  of 
his  professional  duty  under  fire  at  the  battle  of  Clearwater, 
Idaho,  July  12,  1877,  for  which  he  received  the  brevet  of  lieu- 
tenant-colonel.   It  was  my  good  fortune  to  meet  our  guest  for 


284  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

the  first  time  upon  my  return  from  the  same  campaign,  in  the 
fall  of  1877,  at  a  frontier  post,  Walla  Walla,  where  he,  in 
addition  to  his  official  duties,  mastered  the  French  language. 
In  1878,  while  stationed  at  the  same  post,  he  began  his  experi- 
ments to  determine  the  practical  value  of  disinfectants,  using 
putrefactive  bacteria  as  the  test  of  germicidal  activity.  These 
experiments  were  subsequently  continued  in  Washington,D.C, 
and  in  the  laboratories  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Public  Health  Association, 
as  chairman  of  a  committee  appointed  and  given  an  appropri- 
ation for  the  purpose  of  making  such  investigations.  The 
results  of  these  investigations  were  published  in  full  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  American  Public  Health  Association  in 
1888,  but  had  won  for  him  the  "Lomb  prize"  as  early  as  1886. 
This  prize  essay,  published  in  1886,  and  revised  by  Dr.  Stern- 
berg in  1899,  has  been  translated  into  several  foreign 
languages,  and  practical  measures  of  disinfection  in  this  coun- 
try and  abroad  are  largely  based  upon  the  results  obtained  in 
these  investigations.  It  may  be  truly  said  that  scientific  disin- 
fection had  its  inception  with  the  labors  of  Koch  and  Stern- 
berg. Formerly  certain  physical  and  chemical  agents  were 
empirically  used.  Now  we  know  that  they  are  effective 
because  they  destroy  the  vitality  of  the  germ. 

No  one  unless  familiar  with  bacteriological  work  can  have 
the  slightest  conception  of  the  magnitude  and  painstaking 
labors  involved  in  the  determination  of  the  "thermal  death 
point  of  pathogenic  organisms  and  the  germicidal  value  of 
certain  chemical  and  physical  agents."  It  meant  daily  and 
exacting  application  extending  over  a  period  of  years,  but  it 
was  glorious  work  in  the  battle  against  infectious  diseases. 
The  eradication  of  preventable  diseases  is  the  highest  aim  of 
scientific  medicine  today,  and  in  this  field  Dr.  Sternberg  was 
one  of  the  foundation  builders.  You  will  ask  with  Prince, 
now  King  Edward,  "If  certain  diseases  are  preventable,  why 
are  they  not  prevented?"  My  answer  is,  that  while  every 
scientific  physician  familiar  with  biologic  research  knows  full 
well,  that  if  the  methods  of  prevention  recommended  by  Stern- 
berg and  his  school,  including  the  prompt  disinfection  of  the 
dejecta  of  every  typhoid  fever  patient,  the  expectoration  and 
excretions  of  diphtheria  and  tuberculosis  patients,  for  example, 
were  adopted,  these  diseases  would  be  reduced  to  a  minimum 
and  probably  eradicated  in  the  course  of  a  few  years.  The 
facts  are,  these  recommendations  have  not  been  generally 
adopted,  because  the  knowledge  gained  by  experimental 
research  is  not  sufficiently  diffused,  even  among  physicians. 

Had  it  been  otherwise,  the  lessons  of  the  Civil  War  and  the 
note  of  warning  sounded  by  Surgeon-General  Sternberg,  in 
his  famous  circular  of  April  25,  1898,  four  days  after  the  decla- 


GENERAL    STERNBERG'S    DEATH  285 

ration  of  the  Spanish-American  War,  would  have  made  a 
deeper  impression  upon  the  volunteer  medical  officers,  and  the 
disgraceful  unsanitary  scenes  of  our  military  camps  would  not 
have  been  observed. 

Notwithstanding  these  disadvantages  we  are  already  reaping 
the  benefits  of  his  beneficent  work.  It  is  certainly  glorious  to 
know  that  the  average  span  of  life  since  1880  has  been  length- 
ened fully  six  years,  and  that  the  mortality  rate  in  the  United 
States  has  been  reduced  from  19.6  in  1890  to  16.2  per  thousand 
in  1905,  which  means  a  saving  of  over  290,000  lives  in  one 
year  alone,  the  greatest  decrease  having  been  accomplished  in 
the  so-called  preventable  diseases. 

Dr.  Sternberg's  labors  were  not  limited  to  this  special  field, 
for  in  the  interval  we  find  him  active  in  other  research  work. 
In  1880  he  discovered  the  micrococcus  now  recognized  as  the 
specific  cause  of  croupous  pneumonia  and  demonstrated  the 
fact  that  it  is  found  as  a  saprophyte  in  the  buccal  secretions 
of  the  mouths  of  perfectly  healthy  individuals.  Later  (1885) 
he  demonstrated  the  fact  that  the  micrococcus  of  sputum  septi- 
cemia— his  Micrococcus  Pasteuri — is  identical  with  the  cap- 
sulated  micrococcus  found  in  the  rusty  sputum  of  patients  with 
croupous  pneumonia.  While  it  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of 
Frankel  to  share  the  credit  of  this  important  discovery,  there 
can  be  no  question  that  Dr.  Sternberg  first  recognized  and 
described  the  organism,  although  he  did  not  associate  it  in  his 
first  publication  with  pneumonia,  as  he  found  it  in  his  own 
and  the  buccal  secretions  of  other  healthy  subjects.  His  work 
on  sputum  septicemia  also  for  the  first  time  explained  the  viru- 
lent character  assumed  in  many  instances  by  the  bites  of 
human  beings. 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  also  the  first  to  point  out  the  role  which 
the  leukocytes  or  white  corpuscles  of  the  blood  play  as  defend- 
ers of  the  living  body  against  the  invasion  by  pathogenic 
bacteria.  In  one  of  his  publications,  in  1881,  he  suggested  that 
the  disappearance  of  the  bacteria  from  the  circulation  in  the 
experiments  referred  to,  "may  be  effected  by  the  white  cor- 
puscles, which  it  is  well  known  pick  up  after  the  manner  of 
amebae,  any  particles,  organic  or  inorganic,  which  come  in 
their  way  and  it  requires  no  great  stretch  of  credulity  to 
believe  that  like  an  ameba,  they  may  digest  and  assimilate  the 
protoplasm  of  the  captured  bacterium,  thus  putting  an  end  to 
the  possibility  of  its  doing  any  harm." 

This  explanation  is  now  very  commonly  spoken  of  as  the 
"Metschnikoff  theory,"  although  as  shown  by  the  above  quota- 
tions, it  was  clearly  stated  by  Dr.  Sternberg  several  years 
(1881)  before  Metschnikoff 's  first  paper  (1884)  was  pub- 
lished. Metschnikoff  has,  however,  been  the  principal  defender 
of  this  explanation  of  acquired  immunity,  and  has  made  exten- 


286  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

sive  and  painstaking  researches,  as  a  result  of  which  many 
facts  have  been  brought  to  light  which  appear  to  give  support 
to  this  theory. 

In  1881,  while  stationed  at  Fort  Mason,  Calif.,  he  demon- 
strated and  photographed  probably  for  the  first  time  in  Amer- 
ica the  tubercle  bacillus,  which  had  been  discovered  by  Koch 
in  1881. 

In  the  same  year  he  demonstrated  that  the  so-called  Bacillus 
malariae  of  Klebs  and  Tommasi  Crudelli  was  not  an  etiological 
factor  in  the  production  of  malaria,  which  served  to  concen- 
trate attention  upon  Laveran's  plasmodium  discovered  in  1880, 
and  it  was  finally  proved  by  the  work  of  Manson  and  Ross  that 
the  mosquito  was  the  intermediate  host  of  the  malarial  para- 
site. It  was  also  Dr.  Sternberg's  good  fortune,  in  1885,  upon 
his  return  from  the  International  Sanitary  Conference  in 
Rome,  to  demonstrate  for  the  first  time  in  this  country  the 
Plasmodium  of  Laveran  in  freshly  drawn  blood  from  a 
malarial  patient.  This  demonstration  was  made  in  the  path- 
ological laboratory  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  and  the 
ameboid  movements  of  the  plasmodium  in  the  interior  of  the 
red  blood  corpuscles  were  plainly  visible. 

In  1886  he  introduced  the  bacillus  of  typhoid  fever  to  the 
medical  profession  in  this  country,  in  a  paper  read  before  the 
Association  of  American  Physicians. 

Dr.  Sternberg's  investigations  with  reference  to  the  etiology 
of  yellow  fever  date  back  to  1871,  although  his  search  for  the 
specific  organism  commenced  in  Havana,  in  1879,  while  a 
member  of  the  Havana  Yellow  Fever  Commission,  and  was 
continued  for  about  ten  years.  During  this  time  he  twice 
returned  to  Havana  during  the  months  of  yellow  fever  preva- 
lence and  visited  Rio  de  Janiero  and  Vera  Cruz,  also  the  town 
of  Decatur,  Ala.,  during  the  epidemic  of  1888.  His  report, 
published  at  the  conclusion  of  these  extended  investigations, 
shows  that  all  researches  made  to  that  date  had  failed  to  dem- 
onstrate the  specific  cause  of  yellow  fever.  He  showed  that 
the  generally  accepted  claims  of  Domingos  Freire,  of  Brazil, 
to  have  discovered  the  germ  of  this  disease — his  Cryptococcus 
xanthogenicus — and  a  method  of  producing  immunity  by  inoc- 
ulations had  no  scientific  foundation.  He  also  showed  that 
the  bacillus  of  Gibier,  the  ''micrococcus  tetragenus"  of  Finlay, 
and  various  micro-organisms  encountered  by  himself  and  by 
other  investigators  bore  no  etiological  relation  to  the  disease. 
At  the  International  Medical  Congress,  held  at  Berlin  in 
August,  1890,  I  translated  Dr.  Sternberg's  letter  to  Professor 
Hirsch,  giving  a  synopsis  of  his  work  and  stating  that  so  far 
the  specific  organism  of  yellow  fever  had  not  been  discovered. 
It  certainly  speaks  well  for  his  painstaking  work  that  even 
now,  when  we  know  that  the  infectious  agent  is  transmitted 


GENERAL    STERNBERG'S    DEATH  287 

through  the  sting  of  a  mosquito,  and  the  search  has  narrowed 
down  to  the  body  of  this  insect,  it  has  not  been  isolated,  and 
neither  he  nor  others  have  found  it,  probably  because  it  is 
ultramicroscopic. 

Having  exhausted  the  resources  at  his  command  in  his 
search  for  the  germ  of  yellow  fever  by  microscopical  examina- 
tion of  the  blood  and  tissues,  by  culture  methods  and  by 
experiments  on  the  lower  animals,  he  felt  that  the  only  method 
left  which  offered  any  promise  of  success  was  that  of  direct 
experiment  on  man.  If  the  blood  of  a  yellow  fever  patient 
contained  the  specific  infectious  agent,  this  should  be  shown 
by  inoculating  a  non-immune  individual  with  such  blood. 

This  line  of  research,  I  am  informed,  was  pointed  out  by 
Surgeon-General  Sternberg  to  Major  Walter  Reed,  chairman 
of  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission  in  1900,  as  was  also  the  prob- 
ability that  it  would  ultimately  be  found  that  the  disease  is 
transmitted  from  man  to  man  by  an  intermediate  host. 

In  justice  to  all  concerned,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
when  this  commission  was  organized  by  General  Sternberg, 
the  claim  of  the  distinguished  bacteriologist  Sanarelli  to  have 
demonstrated  the  etiological  relation  of  his  "bacillus  icteroides" 
was  generally  accepted,  and  had  been  recently  confirmed  by 
two  medical  officers  of  the  Public  Health  and  Marine  Hospital 
Service  sent  to  Cuba  for  the  special  purpose  of  investigating 
this  claim.  To  General  Sternberg  it  appeared  impossible  that 
a  bacillus,  which  is  easily  demonstrated  under  the  microscope 
and  which  grows  in  ordinary  culture  media,  could  have  escaped 
his  observation  during  his  extended  researches,  if  it  were  in 
fact  the  specific  cause  of  yellow  fever.  The  only  possibility 
of  such  causal  connection  seemed  to  him  to  depend  upon  the 
identification  of  Sanarelli's  bacillus  as  identical  with  a  certain 
bacillus  found  by  Sternberg  in  a  limited  number  of  cases 
during  his  researches  in  Havana.  A  comparison  of  cultures 
of  the  two  micro-organisms  made  by  Major  Reed  at  the  Army 
Medical  Museum,  1899-1900,  showed  that  they  were  not  iden- 
tical and  General  Sternberg,  being  satisfied  that  Sanarelli's 
bacillus  was  not  concerned  in  the  etiology  of  yellow  fever, 
organized  in  1900  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission,  with  Major 
Reed  as  chairman.  Major  Reed's  investigation  resulted  in  the 
demonstration  that  in  yellow  fever  the  specific  infectious  agent 
is  present  in  the  blood  of  those  suffering  from  the  disease  and 
that  the  usual  and  probably  the  only  method  of  transmission 
of  the  disease  is  through  the  bites  of  mosquitoes  of  the  genus 
Stegomyia.  This  brilliant  demonstration  by  Reed  and  his 
colleagues  has  furnished  the  necessary  basis  for  preventive 
measures  which  have  been  applied  with  entire  success  in  the 
yellow  fever  zone,  and  the  practical  results  are  of  incalculable 
value  to  mankind. 


288  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

I  do  not  consider  it  unfair  to  the  memory  of  Major  Reed 
and  his  colleagues  when  I  declare  that  much  of  the  success 
achieved  was  rendered  possible  by  the  preliminary  work  of 
Dr.  Sternberg,  who  had  eliminated  numerous  errors  committed 
by  others  and  had  contested  and  overthrown  the  claims  of 
several  bacteriologists  for  the  discovery  of  the  specific  organ- 
ism. His  conviction  that  all  former  claims,  even  the  mosquito 
theory  first  suggested  by  Nott  and  Finlay  were  unfounded  or 
remained  to  be  proven,  is  clearly  evinced  by  the  appointment 
of  a  commission,  which  he  personally  selected.  I  have  pur- 
posely devoted  much  time  to  the  presentation  of  his  research 
work,  not  to  detract  in  the  slightest  degree  from  the  brilliant 
achievements  of  my  departed  friends,  but  in  the  interest  ot 
truth  and  justice. 

In  giving  due  credit  to  all  the  participants  of  this  splendid 
piece  of  research,  it  must  be  remembered  that  Dr.  Sternberg's 
work  was  of  the  highest  scientific  value,  and  his  daily  contact 
with  the  sick,  his  autopsies  and  bacteriological  investigations 
in  different  countries  and  climes  in  search  of  the  yellow  fever 
germ  involved  at  least  the  same  risks  and  heroism  displayed 
by  members  of  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission.  Hence,  I  do 
not  hesitate  to  say,  that  no  history  of  this  important  discovery 
is  complete  without  a  just  presentation  of  Sternberg's  prelim- 
inary work  which  led  up  to  the  appointment  of  the  commission, 
and  I  prefer  to  make  this  statement  while  one  of  the  members 
of  the  commission,  Dr.  Agramonte,  and  our  honored  guest  are 
still  alive. 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  the  pioneer  in  this  country,  not  only  in 
bacteriological  investigations,  but  in  the  publication  of  bacte- 
riological textbooks.  In  1880,  he  translated  the  work  of  Dr. 
Antoine  Magnin  from  the  French.  In  1884  this  work  was 
greatly  enlarged  and  brought  up  to  date  (480  pp.,  8vo.,  includ- 
ing 152  pp.  from  Magnin's  work). 

In  1892  Sternberg's  Manual  of  Bacteriology  was  published 
(898  pp.,  royal  8vo.,  illustrated  by  numerous  photographs  and 
cuts).  In  1896  this  work  was  revised  and  published  under  the 
title  of  a  Text-Book  of  Bacteriology. 

Dr.  Sternberg  since  1880  has  been  in  the  habit  of  illustrating 
his  published  works  and  scientific  papers  by  photomicrographs 
made  by  himself.  He  has  shown  himself  a  master  in  this  diffi- 
cult art,  and  in  1884  published  a  volume  on  photomicrographs 
and  how  to  make  them  (204  pp.,  8vo.).  Other  published  works 
of  Sternberg  are  Malaria  and  Malarial  Diseases  (329  pp., 
8vo.,  \Vm.  Wood  &  Co.,  New  York)  ;  Immunity,  Protective 
Inoculations  in  Infectious  Diseases  and  Serum  Therapy  (325 
pp.,  Wm.  Wood  &  Co.,  New  York,  1895)  ;  Infection  and 
Immunity,  with  Special  Reference  to  the  Prevention  of  Infec- 
tious Diseases  (293  pp.,  Putnam's  Sons,  1903),  making  in  all 


GENERAL    STERNBERG'S    DEATH  289 

2,592  pages,  not  to  mention  his  chapters  in  textbooks  and  medi- 
cal encyclopedias  and  over  sixty  other  contributions  to  medical 
and  scientific  literature,  many  of  which  have  been  translated 
into  foreign  languages. 

General  Sternberg's  brilliant  services  to  the  nation  have 
never  been  adequately  rewarded, but  Dr.  Sternburg's  unceasing 
study,  honesty  and  truth  have  gained  him  admission  into  the 
temple  of  fame.  Brown  University  and  the  University  of 
Michigan  have  conferred  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  seven 
societies  and  academies,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  have 
enrolled  his  name  as  an  honorary  member,  three  national  scien- 
tific associations  have  chosen  him  as  leader,  which  position  he 
also  occupied  in  the  Biological  and  Philosophical  societies  and 
the  Cosmos  Club  of  this  city.     .     .     . 

STERNBERG    THE     PHILANTHROPIST 

Hon.  David  J.  Brewer,  Justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court,  recounted  General  Sternberg's  works  of  philanthropy: 

Reference  has  been  made  to  his  distinguished  career  in  the 
army.  He  not  only  rose  to  the  highest  position  in  the  medical 
department,  but  by  his  studies  and  investigations  added  largely 
to  its  great  reputation.  When  he  had  reached  the  age  at  which 
the  Government  holds  that  an  officer  has  filled  out  the  full 
measure  of  his  service  to  the  nation,  and  had  retired  him  there- 
from, instead  of  dropping  to  a  life  of  ease  and  idleness,  as  so 
many  do,  he  entered  upon  a  new  career  of  exceeding  useful- 
ness and  blessing  to  the  community. 

Let  me  mention  some  of  the  activities  in  which  he  has  been 
engaged  since  the  Government  said  he  had  become  too  old  to 
serve  it.  You  may  have  been  in  the  slums  of  New  York  or 
other  large  cities,  and  been  shocked  with  the  pitiable  sights. 
Mere  shacks  or  tenements  for  homes,  with  little  of  sunlight  or 
fresh  air,  with  dirt  and  filth  abounding,  vice  and  crime  show- 
ing their  hideous  faces,  and  crowded  with  old  and  young, 
ignorant  of  cleanliness,  without  ambition  or  hope,  and  present- 
ing only  miserable  pictures  of  the  possible  wretchedness  of 
life.  Who  that  has  seen  them  has  not  longed  for  something 
to  sweep  away  this  great  volume  of  ignorance,  filth  and  vice, 
and  trusted  that  nothing  like  it  would  be  found  in  the  city  in 
which  he  dwelt.  While  Washington  has  never  been  so  afflicted 
as  some  cities,  yet  we  had  our  slums  and  General  Sternberg 
became  a  leader  in  our  deliverance  therefrom.  He  organized 
a  housing  company,  which  has  already  erected  two  hundred 
houses,  with  two  apartments  in  each  house,  filled  with  pure  air 
and  sunlight,  with  all  sanitary  accommodations  and  under  a 
supervision  which  insures  decency  and  cleanliness  in  every 
home.    And  as  these  houses  were  all  speedily  occupied,  in 


290  GEORGE    M.    STERXBERG 

order  to  reach  a  class  which  could  not  afford  even  the  small 
rent  charged  for  them,  he  organized  a  second  housing  com- 
pany, which  has  already  put  up  forty  houses,  with  two  apart- 
ments in  each,  smaller,  cheaper,  and  yet  clean,  with  sanitary 
conveniences,  and  where  fresh  air  and  sunlight  abound. 
Surely  Washington  owes  much  to  him  who  has  secured  for 
four  hundred  and  eighty  families  comfortable,  decent,  clean 
homes,  places  in  which  old  and  young  are  surrounded  by  the 
conveniences  of  life  and  in  which  the  children  will  grow  up 
with  some  idea  of  the  better  things  of  life. 

But  this  is  not  all.  He  has  been  for  years  the  president  of 
the  Citizen's  Relief  Society,  that  association  which,  working 
with  the  Associated  Charities,  provides  funds  for  the  relief  of 
the  poor  and  dependent,  and  at  the  same  time  strives  to  secure 
for  each  an  opportunity  for  work  and  a  chance  to  earn  a  living 
and  to  open  the  prospect  of  a  life  of  usefulness  and  respecta- 
bility. Knowing  as  I  do  a  little  of  the  great  work  in  which 
these  associations  are  engaged,  I  feel  that  he  has  been  in  this 
one  of  the  real  benefactors  of  this  city. 

But  still  again,  his  active  spirit  of  humanity  was  not  content 
with  these  labors.  That  terrible  disease  which  has  carried  off 
so  many  lives  and  which  we  popularly  know  as  the  white 
plague  was  present  everywhere.  It  appealed  to  him  to  do 
what  was  possible  to  stay  its  ravages.  Whoever  has,  as  I  have 
done,  stood  beside  the  bedside  of  a  dear  one,  and  seen  that  dear 
one  grow  thinner  and  thinner,  paler  and  paler,  as  she  wasted 
away,  until  at  last  the  end  came  and  her  "pale  and  sacred  clay" 
was  borne  away  to  rest  in  that  which  in  ancient  Saxon  phrase 
is  called  God's  Acre,  can  but  look  with  thankfulness  upon  one, 
a  master  of  the  science  of  medicine,  who  gives  his  time  and 
toil  and  skill  to  ward  off  that  disease.  Within  twenty  miles 
of  this  city  he  has  established  a  sanitarium  or  camp,  whichever 
it  may  be  called,  where  from  twenty  to  thirty  tuberculosis 
patients  are  cared  for,  and  all  that  science  has  discovered  in 
the  way  of  checking  the  disease  is  applied. 

Surely,  notwithstanding  all  the  honor  which  attaches  to  his 
distinguished  service  as  medical  director  of  the  Army,  I  feel 
that  his  last  days  and  his  last  work  spent  in  these  humanities 
have  been  his  best  days  and  his  best  work.  He  has  shown  that 
he  knows  the  religion  of  the  humanities.  He  has  read  the 
story  of  the  Good  Samaritan.  He  has  caught  the  inspiration 
of  those  words  of  the  Master,  "inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it 
unto  me."  While  my  friends  Rabbi  Stern  and  Simon  Wolf 
may  not  believe  in  the  Nazarene  as  I  do,  I  am  sure  that  they 
endorse  the  blessedness  of  the  work  which  General  Sternberg 
has  done.    Whether  he  be  orthodox  in  theology  I  do  not  know, 


GENERAL    STERNBERG'S    DEATH  291 

but  I  do  know  that  he  has  been  orthodox  in  devotion  to  the 
humanities  and  the  blessed  work  of  making  life  on  this  earth 
better  and  sweeter.     .     .     . 

At  a  joint  memorial  meeting  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  and  the  Association  for  the  Prevention 
of  Tuberculosis  held  January  19,  1916,  Dr.  S.  S.  Adams 
referred  to  General  Sternberg's  efforts  for  the  suppression  of 
tuberculosis  in  these  words : 

Only  those  who  had  been  closely  associated  with  General 
Sternberg  in  the  local  organizations  for  the  prevention  of 
tuberculosis  could  realize  fully  the  tremendous  impetus  and 
sustaining  power  contributed  by  his  personality :  he  was  undis- 
mayed alike  by  the  magnitude  of  the  task  and  by  public 
indifference  to  the  needs  of  the  work. 

At  a  similar  meeting,1  Col.  Edward  L.  Munson,  M.C.,  U.  S. 
Army,  said : 

It  is  with  a  mingled  sense  of  melancholy  pleasure  that  the 
writer  undertakes  a  brief  summary  of  the  broad  achievements, 
useful  service  and  sterling  worth  of  General  Sternberg,  for  it 
was  his  duty  to  serve  as  a  member  of  the  official  family  of  the 
latter  during  the  trying  period  following  the  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities with  Spain  and  including  the  Philippine  insurrection. 

As  a  chief  in  war  time,  the  great  abilities  of  General  Stern- 
berg were  to  be  respected.  He  inherited  conditions  for  which 
he  was  in  nowise  responsible,  and  which  higher  authority, 
though  appealed  to,  would  not  furnish  the  means  of  preventing. 
That  General  Sternberg  appreciated  in  advance  most  of  the 
faults  and  difficulties  encountered  in  the  Spanish  War  is  per- 
sonally known  to  the  writer  from  long  and  confidential  asso- 
ciation. He  did  all  that  the  means  afforded  which  were 
provided  him. 

As  a  scientist,  he,  in  his  long  career,  brought  great  fame  to 
the  Medical  Corps.  He  embodied  its  scientific  ideals,  and  he 
brought  many  of  these  ideals  to  accomplishment.  He  was  a 
large  contributor  to  medical  science,  the  library  of  the  Surgeon- 
General's  Office  having  on  file  no  less  than  142  separate  books 
and  articles  from  his  pen.  Very  many  of  these  were  based  on 
his  own  work,  and  represented  notable  additions  to  the  advance 
of  medical  and  scientific  progress  of  the  time.  He  was  a 
pioneer,  who  blazed  the  trail  into  many  new  fields  of  thought 
where  others  followed. 


1.  Thirteenth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  American  Society  of  Tropical 
Medicine,  Washington,  D.  C,  May  9,  10,  11,  1916. 


292  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Of  clean  and  lofty  purpose,  kindly  nature  and  almost 
womanly  sympathy;  he  was  a  true  friend.  The  writer  will 
always  hold  the  personal  association  with  General  Sternberg, 
which  he  enjoyed,  in  grateful  remembrance.  In  his  sense  of 
fairness  and  even  justice,  his  standards  were  the  highest.  He 
played  no  favorites.  He  leaned  backwards  in  his  effort  not  to 
be  influenced  by  personal  preference.  When  it  came  to  official 
business,  he  had  neither  friend  to  reward  nor  enemies  to 
punish.  A  square  deal,  an  equal  chance  for  all,  a  further 
opportunity  for  those  who  took  advantage  of  those  already 
given  them — this  was  his  code. 

Dr.  A.  C.  Abbott,  one  of  the  foremost  bacteriologists  of 
America,  read  the  following  memorial  note  before  the  College 
of  Physicians  of  Philadelphia,  April  5,  1916: 

I  am  highly  honored  by  your  invitation  to  present  a  minute 
on  the  death  of  our  late  fellow,  George  Miller  Sternberg,  Sur- 
geon-General of  the  United  States  Army,  retired.  In  the  death 
of  General  Sternberg  we  note  the  passing  of  one  of  America's 
most  active  pioneers  in  modern  preventive  medicine.  He  was 
certainly  the  first  American  to  be  conspicuously  identified  with 
the  science  of  bacteriology  and  to  recognize  its  bearings  upon 
the  problems  of  epidemiology  and  prevention.  His  most 
important  investigations  were  made  at  a  time  long  antedating 
the  advent  of  the  methods  of  Koch  now  invariably  employed 
in  bacteriological  research ;  methods  that  are  today  the  common 
property  of  every  medical  student  graduated  from  our  reput- 
able schools.  It  was  my  happy  privilege  to  have  been 
associated  with  Dr.  Sternberg  in  the  fall  and  winter  of  1884- 
1885 — when  his  rank  was  that  of  major.  He  was  then  holding, 
by  courtesy,  a  Fellowship  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 
It  was  through  his  influence  and  kindly  interest  that  my  atten- 
tion was  drawn  to  the  problems  of  public  hygiene,  and  I  am 
grateful  for  this  opportunity  to  record  my  deep  indebtedness 
to  him.  Only  those  intimately  associated  with  Dr.  Sternberg 
can  appreciate  his  singular  individuality — a  tireless  worker, 
unsatisfied  with  anything  less  than  the  best ;  convinced  only 
by  arguments  emanating  from  experimental  data  and  always 
with  an  eye  to  the  application  of  results  to  the  welfare  of  man- 
kind. Busy  at  all  times,  but  never  hurried,  his  affairs  were  in 
such  order  that  confusion  was  unknown;  modest,  kindly,  gen- 
erous and  patient,  it  was  a  privilege  and  delight  to  receive  the 
benefit  of  his  council. 

General  Sternberg  was  born  at  Hartwick  Seminary,  Otsego 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  on  June  8,  1838.  He  died  at  his  residence  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  on  November  3,  1915,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 


GENERAL    STERNBERG'S    DEATH  293 

seven  years.  He  was  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  German 
families  from  the  Palatinate  that  early  settled  New  York  State. 
He  spent  his  boyhood  days  and  received  his  preliminary  educa- 
tion at  Hartwick  Seminary  where,  for  a  time,  his  father  was 
the  principal,  and  his  grandfather,  on  the  maternal  side,  was 
a  professor.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was  a  self-supporting 
school  teacher.  He  began  the  study  of  medicine  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  under  the  preceptorship  of  Dr.  Horace  Lathrop  of 
Cooperstown,  N.  Y.,  and  was  graduated  as  Doctor  of  Medicine 
from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  with  the  class 
of  1860.    He  practised  medicine  for  a  time  at  Elizabeth,  N.  J. 

With  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  he  decided  to  enter  the 
army,  and  in  1861,  after  due  examination,  was  appointed 
Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  United  States  Army.  He  was  in 
active  service  throughout  the  war.  He  was  present  at  the  first 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  at  the  engagements  at  Gaines'  Mills, 
Turkey  Ridge,  and  Malvern  Hill.  He  received  brevet  com- 
mission for  meritorious  services  during  the  war  and  later  the 
brevet  commission  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  for  "gallant  service 
in  the  performance  of  his  professional  duties  under  fire  in 
action  against  the  Indians  at  Clearwater,  Idaho,  in  1877." 

In  an  exhaustive  notice  of  General  Sternberg's  scientific  and 
military  career,  his  friend,  Dr.  Kober,  of  Washington,  remarks : 
"Dr.  Sternberg  has  seen  more  active  service  on  the  battlefield 
and  in  Indian  campaigns  than  any  other  medical  officer  with 
whose  record  we  are  familiar." 

But  it  is  not  alone  on  the  battlefield  that  Dr.  Sternberg 
exhibited  his  fidelity  to  duty.  He  was  medical  officer  at  Fort 
Harker,  Kansas,  in  1867,  during  an  epidemic  of  Asiatic  cholera, 
and  was  post  surgeon  during  an  outbreak  of  yellow  fever 
among  the  troops  at  Fort  Columbus,  N.  Y.,  in  1871.  It  is 
probable  that  impressions  made  by  the  ravages  of  those  dis- 
eases had  much  to  do  with  deciding  Dr.  Sternberg  in  the 
course  that  his  subsequent  medical  activities  were  to  take.  The 
valuable  experiences  gained  in  his  study  of  the  yellow  fever 
outbreak  at  Fort  Columbus  resulted  in  his  being  detailed  in 
1872  for  service  at  New  Orleans,  La.,  and  Fort  Barrancas, 
Florida — both  in  the  so-called  yellow-fever  zone.  At  the 
Florida  post  he  passed  through  two  epidemics,  in  the  second 
of  which  he  himself  contracted  a  severe  attack  of  the  disease. 

The  first  of  Dr.  Sternberg's  scientific  publications  was  a 
clinical  description  of  yellow  fever  as  witnessed  by  him  in  the 
several  epidemics  through  which  he  had  passed.  In  1878, 
while  post  surgeon  at  Fort  Walla  Walla,  on  the  Pacific  slope, 
he  began  investigations  upon  the  value  of  commercial  disinfec- 
tants— a  line  of  work  with  which  his  name  was  conspicuously 
identified  until  the  question  was  finally  and  satisfactorily  set- 
tled.   His  experiments,  begun  at  an  army  post,  were  continued 


294  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

in  Washington,  D.  C,  and  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University, 
where  the  importance  of  his  researches  led  to  his  being 
awarded  a  "Fellowship  by  courtesy."  He  was  at  that  time  of 
the  rank  of  Major,  detailed  for  post  duty  at  Baltimore.  The 
expenses  incidental  to  so  costly  an  investigation  were  borne  by 
the  American  Public  Health  Association  of  which  he  was  at 
one  time  president,  and  for  years  an  active  and  influential 
member.  The  results  of  his  investigations  upon  disinfectants 
won  for  him  the  "Lomb  Prize"  in  1886.  The  honor  of  having 
placed  the  whole  question  of  disinfection  on  a  scientific  basis 
belongs  conjointly  to  Sternberg  and  Koch.  It  was  during  his 
fundamental  investigations  upon  the  value  of  commercial  dis- 
infectants, made  under  a  grant  from  the  American  Public 
Health  Association,  that  I  became  his  assistant,  and  it  was 
from  him  that  I  received  my  first  instruction  in  bacteriology. 
Were  it  not  for  fear  of  wandering  too  far  afield,  I  would 
relate  some  of  my  experiences  while  associated  with  this 
remarkable  man.  At  the  time  the  accurate,  simple  and  logical 
methods  of  Koch  were  not  available  to  workers  in  American 
laboratories.  In  fact  there  were  no  workers  at  all  in  pure 
bacteriology-  in  this  country,  General  Sternberg,  to  my  knowl- 
edge, being  the  only  one,  and  I  can  assure  you  that  I  appre- 
ciated my  good  fortune  when  the  opportunity  presented  for  me 
to  serve  as  his  assistant.  Only  those  familiar  with  the  exacting 
nature  of  a  serious  bacteriological  research,  conducted  by  the 
immature  methods  of  that  time,  can  appreciate  the  magnitude 
of  his  work  on  disinfection — and  when  it  be  made  known  that 
through  all  that  investigation  he  was  ably  conducting  the 
affairs  of  the  military  post  to  which  he  was  detailed,  one 
realizes  to  some  extent  the  tireless  energy  and  love  of  work 
with  which  he  was  endowed.  Coincident  with  his  studies  of 
disinfectants  were  researches  in  other  fields  of  bacteriology. 
In  1880  he  discovered  in  the  saliva  a  micrococcus  to  which  he 
gave  the  name  "Micrococcus  pasteuri."  As  he  had  found  it 
in  his  own  saliva  and  in  the  saliva  of  many  other  normal 
human  beings — and  as  he  had  demonstrated  that  its  introduc- 
tion into  the  tissues  of  certain  animals  resulted  only  in  fatal 
septicemia — it  is  not  astounding  to  find  him  surprised  when 
Fraenkel  declared  pneumonia  in  man  to  be  caused  by  an 
organism  identical  with  "Micrococcus  pasteuri ;"  which  organ- 
ism is  now  generally  known  as  "pneumococcus."  The  literature 
of  the  time  on  the  subject  is  somewhat  confusing,  due  in  large 
part  to  the  limitations  of  and  to  the  differences  in  available 
technic — but  nevertheless,  call  the  organism  what  we  may,  it 
was  Dr.  Sternberg  who  discovered  it  and  described  many  of 
its  peculiarities,  though  he  failed  to  recognize  its  most  impor- 
tant activities.  In  1881  he  proved  conclusively  that  the  so- 
called  "Bacillus  malariae"  of  Klebs  and  Tommasi  Crudelli,  then 


GENERAL    STERNBERG'S    DEATH  295 

attracting  wide-spread  attention,  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
causation  of  malarial  fever  and  in  1885  demonstrated  for  the 
first  time  in  this  country  the  living,  motile  Plasmodium  malarise 
first  seen  by  Laveran  in  1880,  and  subsequently  proved  to  be 
the  cause  of  malarial  fever. 

Of  the  many  and  varied  problems  with  which  Dr.  Sternberg 
was  identified,  probably  none  absorbed  more  of  his  energies 
than  that  concerning  yellow  fever.  It  would  take  more  time 
than  is  allowed  me  to  follow  his  studies  of  this  disease  in  all 
their  ramifications.  We  can,  however,  content  ourselves  with 
saying  that  through  his  individual  effort,  i.  e.,  investigations 
made  by  him  personally — he  closed  once  and  for  all  time  the 
question  as  to  the  likelihood  of  yellow  fever  being  a  disease 
of  bacterial  origin.  Only  those  who  were  on  the  spot  and  saw 
the  remarkable  tenacity  with  which  he  followed  out  to  its 
termination  every  promising  lead,  can  realize  the  determination 
of  a  man  whose  only  reward  for  an  enormous  expenditure  of 
energy  was  negative  results.  But  we  must  not  underestimate 
the  value  of  such  results — remember,  please,  that  at  the  time 
of  which  I  write  almost  nothing  was  known  of  yellow  fever 
beyond  its  clinical  manifestations,  and  bacteriology  was  hailed 
as  the  science  through  which  the  riddle  was  to  be  solved. 
Errors  in  abundance  were  made  and  had  to  be  corrected.  Dr. 
Sternberg  did  this.  Having  exhausted  the  subject  so  far  as 
the  available  bacteriological,  microscopic  and  inoculation 
methods  would  permit,  Dr.  Sternberg  conceived  the  idea  of 
experiments  on  human  beings.  Dr.  Carlos  Finlay,  of  Havana, 
had  already  made  certain  inconclusive  investigations  in  the  way 
of  protective  inoculations  of  man  through  the  use  of  infected 
mosquitoes.  The  next  step  was  the  appointment  of  the  U.  S. 
Army  Commission  with  Major  Walter  Reed  at  its  head.  The 
results  of  the  activities  of  that  commission  in  enlightening  us 
upon  the  subject  are  too  well  known  to  require  comment  at 
this  time.  But  the  essential  thing  to  remember  is  that  the 
organization  of  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission  was  General 
Sternberg's  idea. 

Not  the  least  important  of  his  many  activities  were  those 
concerned  with  photomicrography,  of  which  he  was  a  master. 
He  was  the  first  in  this  country  to  reproduce  by  photography 
Bacillus  tuberculosis  discovered  by  Koch  in  1882.  In  1884,  in 
his  revision  of  his  1880  translation  of  Magnin's  Bacteriology, 
he  published  a  large  group  of  photomicrographs  of  bacteria 
that  were  comparable  in  their  excellence  to  many  that  have 
subsequently  appeared,  and  superior  to  any  in  existence  at  that 
time.  In  1892  appeared  the  first  edition  of  his  own  book,  A 
Manual  of  Bacteriology,  and  in  1896  a  revision  entitled  a 
Text-book  of  Bacteriology.  In  addition  he  was  the  author  of 
several  other  books  on   special   topics,  notably  Malaria   and 


296  GEORGE    M.    STERXBERG 

Malarial  Diseases;  Immunity,  Protective  Inoculation  in  Infec- 
tive Diseases  and  Serum  Therapy;  Infection  and  Immunity, 
with  Special  Reference  to  the  Prevention  of  Infectious 
Diseases. 

He  was  a  frequent  writer  of  chapters  for  collaborative  books, 
of  articles  for  encyclopedias,  and  more  than  sixty  special  scien- 
tific papers  stand  to  his  credit. 

During  the  time  of  his  Surgeon-Generalship  (1893  to  1902) 
he  established  the  Army  Medical  School;  established  labora- 
tories for  scientific  investigations  at  most  of  the  important 
army  posts;  provided  all  new  army  hospitals  with  modern 
operating  rooms,  and  encouraged  their  use  by  surgeons  in  the 
service;  he  established  the  army  tuberculosis  hospital  at  Fort 
Bayard,  New  Mexico.  Immediately  after  the  declaration  of 
war  with  Spain,  within  four  days,  to  be  exact,  he  issued  a 
circular  upon  camp  sanitation  and  dwelt  upon  the  possible 
role  of  flies  in  disseminating  typhoid  fever.  This  warning  was 
not  heeded,  with  results  well  known  to  all  of  us. 

He  organized  the  board  for  the  investigation  of  typhoid 
fever;  composed  of  the  late  Major  Walter  Reed,  the  late  Dr. 
E.  O.  Shakespeare,  a  Fellow  of  this  College,  and  Dr.  Victor 
C.  Vaughan,  of  the  University  of  Michigan.  Upon  his  recom- 
mendation Drs.  Vaughan  and  Shakespeare  were  commissioned 
as  surgeons  of  volunteers.  As  said,  he  organized  the  Yellow 
Fever  Commission  composed  of  Major  Walter  Reed,  Drs. 
Carroll,  Lazear  and  Agramonte.  During  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can War  he  organized  eight  army  hospitals  at  appropriate 
points  and  equipped  two  hospital  ships  and  one  hospital  train. 
He  organized  the  female  nursing  corps  and  the  corps  of  dental 
surgeons  in  accordance  with  an  act  of  Congress,  passed  at  his 
suggestion,  and  recommended  a  large  increase  in  the  medical 
corps  to  correspond  with  the  increase  in  the  army  made  in 
1901. 

After  his  retirement  from  active  service — necessitated  by 
the  age  limit — he  devoted  his  tireless  energies  to  what  he 
regarded  as  the  duties  of  a  citizen.  He  was  affiliated  in  a  con- 
spicuous way  with  many  organizations  having  to  do  with  the 
welfare  of  the  National  Capital.  He  was  president  and 
founder  of  the  Washington  Sanitary  Improvement  Company ; 
of  the  Washington  Sanitary  Housing  Company ;  president  of 
the  President's  Homes  Commission;  president  of  the  Citizens' 
Relief  Association ;  president  of  the  Washington  Sanatorium 
Company ;  director  of  the  Starmont  Sanatorium ;  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  the  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis ;  member  of 
the  committee  on  the  International  Tuberculosis  Congress ; 
president  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  Garfield  Hospital ; 
president  of  Board  of  Visitors  of  St.  Elizabeth's  Hospital, 
and  Professor  of  Preventive  Medicine  in  George  Washington 


GENERAL    STERNBERG'S    DEATH  297 

University.  He  held  membership  in  many  important  societies. 
Besides  being  a  Fellow  of  this  College,  he  was  a  member  and 
ex-president  of  the  American  Public  Health  Association ;  mem- 
ber and  ex-president  of  the  American  Medical  Association ; 
member  and  ex-president  of  the  Association  of  Military  Sur- 
geons; member  and  ex-president  of  the  Philosophical  Society 
of  Washington ;  of  the  Biological  Society  of  Washington ;  of 
the  Cosmos  Club;  honorary  member  of  the  Association  of 
American  Physicians ;  of  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Medicine;  of  the  Epidemiological  Society  of  London;  of  the 
Academy  of  Medicine  of  Rio  de  Janeiro ;  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Medicine,  and  of  the  French  Society  of  Hygiene. 
The  Honorary  Doctorate  of  Laws  was  conferred  upon  him  by 
the  University  of  Michigan  in  1894,  and  by  Brown  University 
in  1897. 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  what  we  are  pleased  to  call  a  self-made 
man.  His  early  environment  was  certainly  not  luxurious :  a 
schoolteacher  at  sixteen;  a  student  of  medicine  on  borrowed 
money  at  nineteen,  all  of  which  money  he  subsequently  earned 
and  returned  to  the  lender;  a  surgeon  in  the  United  States 
Army  at  the  age  of  twenty-three — speaks  for  individual 
capacity  that  bade  well  to  carry  its  possessor  far  in  the  race 
for  preferment — as  his  subsequent  history  has  well  shown  to 
have  been  the  case. 

An  incident  during  the  course  of  my  acquaintance  with  him 
often  impressed  me  with  his  will  and  energy.  At  the  age  of 
fifty-five  or  thereabouts  he  knew  nothing  of  the  German  lan- 
guage. It  was  at  a  time  when  the  most  important  of  our 
researches  were  emanating  from  the  German  laboratories.  He 
knew  French  intimately,  but  that  helped  only  in  part.  Was 
he  discouraged?  Not  at  all.  With  the  aid  of  a  tutor  and  by 
close  application  he  acquired  a  trustworthy  reading  knowledge 
of  German  in  less  than  two  years. 

Though  I  knew  General  Sternberg  more  or  less  intimately 
from  1884  until  the  date  of  his  death,  I  never  so  fully  appre- 
ciated the  magnitude  of  his  attainments,  his  services  to  man- 
kind, or  his  devotion  to  duty  as  I  did  in  the  course  of 
preparation  of  this  minute.  In  the  death  of  General  Stern- 
berg, this  College  loses  one  of  its  most  distinguished  fellows, 
American  medicine,  a  pioneer  of  whose  attainments  it  may  be 
justly  proud,  and  those  who  knew  him  well,  a  faithful,  kindly 
friend. 


CHAPTER     TWENTY-ONE 

CONGRESSIONAL    RECOGNITION 

During  the  last  years  of  General  Sternberg's  active  service 
in  the  Army,  he  was  on  terms  of  intimate  friendship  with 
Senator  Gallinger.  Both  were  educated  physicians,  interested 
in  medical  charities  and  in  the  protection  of  public  health.  It 
was  but  natural  then,  that  after  the  death  of  General  Sternberg, 
Senator  Gallinger  should  introduce  a  bill  in  the  Senate  granting 
a  pension  to  his  widow,  Mrs.  Martha  L.  Sternberg.  July  19, 
1916,  after  recognition  by  the  presiding  officer,  Senator  Gal- 
linger remarked : 

Mr.  President,  I  am  well  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  Com- 
mittee on  Pensions,  and  the  Congress  itself,  is  not  as  liberal  in 
the  matter  of  the  payments  of  pensions  to  the  widows  of  gen- 
eral officers,  as  it  was  at  the  time  when  I  had  the  privilege  of 
acting  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Pensions.  However, 
I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  the  case  of  Mrs. 
Sternberg,  widow  of  the  late  General  Sternberg,  which  is  so 
unusual,  so  clearly  out  of  the  ordinary,  that  I  want  to  make  an 
appeal  to  the  Senate  to  increase  the  amount  that  is  allowed  in 
the  bill. 

General  Sternberg  had  a  most  remarkable  career,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent. It  was  General  Sternberg  who  organized  the  Yellow 
Fever  Commission  in  1900,  which  Commission,  under  the  late 
Major  Reed  made  the  famous  investigation  resulting  in  the  dis- 
covery that  yellow  fever  was  due  to  inoculation  by  mosquitoes, 
which  discovery  revolutionized  the  views  that  were  held  con- 
cerning that  disease  and  practically  obliterated  it  from  the 
United  States. 

General  Sternberg,  Mr.  President,  as  a  scientific  man  prob- 
ably held  more  important  positions  than  any  other  man  in  the 
history  of  this  Government.  I  have  here  a  list  of  positions  he 
held,  with  which  I  hope  every  Senator  will  acquaint  himself 
if  he  has  any  objection  to  the  motion  which  I  am  about  to  make. 
I  would,  if  time  permitted,  discuss  this  matter  at  considerable 
length,  but  I  have  only  five  minutes  in  which  to  do  it,  and  shall 
content  myself  with  reading  one  or  two  letters  in  reference  to 
the  matter  which  I  find  in  the  report  of  the  Committee  on 
Pensions. 

Mr.  Tillman:  "I  suggest  to  the  Senator  to  insert  them  in  the 
Record  without  reading." 


CONGRESSIONAL    RECOGNITION  299 

Mr.  Gallinger:  "I  want  to  read  what  Dr.  Gorgas — General 
Gorgas,  as  we  ordinarily  know  him — says.  I  find  this  letter 
from  him : 

War  Department, 
Office  of  the  Surgeon-General, 
Washington,  March  9,  1916. 

Dear  Mrs.  Sternberg  : 

My  long  service  in  the  Army  Medical  Corps  under  General 
Sternberg  has  given  me  a  very  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
character  of  his  work  during  the  long  period  he  served  his 
country.  He  began  his  service  during  the  Civil  War  at  the 
Battle  of  Manassas,  on  which  occasion  his  services  were  most 
gallant  and  conspicuous.  For  many  years  after  the  Civil  War 
he  served  on  our  Western  frontier. 

His  scientific  investigations  with  regard  to  yellow  fever  were 
extensive  and  useful.  He  had  a  severe  attack  of  yellow  fever 
at  Fort  Barrancas,  Fla.,  contracted  while  he  was  post  surgeon 
at  that  post  in  connection  with  his  duties.  When  he  was  made 
Surgeon-General  of  the  Army  in  1893  he  was  in  the  forefront 
of  bacteriologists  and  would  have  at  that  time  ranked  among 
the  first  two  or  three  bacteriologists  of  the  world.  I  think  his 
memory  deserves  well  of  our  country. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Wm.  C.  Gorgas, 

Surgeon-General,  United  States  Army, 

Mr.  President,  there  is  a  very  interesting  letter  here  from 
Dr.  George  M.  Kober,  a  well  known  scientist  of  this  city ;  a 
remarkable  letter  from  Ex-Senator  Root  in  which  he  pays 
tribute  to  the  remarkable  achievements  of  General  Sternberg ; 
a  letter  from  General  Wood,  and  other  testimony  that  is  of 
very  great  importance." 

Senator  Gallinger  thereupon  moved  that  "$50"  be  stricken 
out  and  that  "$100"  be  inserted  in  order  that  adequate  provision 
might  be  made  for  the  widow  of  an  illustrious  scientist  and 
patriotic  American. 

Mr.  Johnson  of  Maine:  "Mr.  President,  the  case  of  Mrs. 
Sternberg  appeals  very  strongly  to  the  Committee  because  of 
the  eminent  services  of  her  husband,  which  the  Senator  from 
New  Hampshire  (Mr.  Gallinger)  has  detailed  here;  but  in  only 
very  few  cases  has  Congress  given  a  pension  above  $50  a 
month.  Fifty  dollars  a  month  is  the  limit  which  the  Committee 
on  Pensions  in  the  House  and  in  the  Senate  have  established 
where  a  soldier  requires  the  help  of  another  person  to  care  for 
him;  and  we  have  felt  that  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Sternberg  in 
allowing  $50  a  month,  we  have  been  very  liberal.  There  are 
on  the  list  a  very  few,  but  there  are  a  few,  who  have  pensions 


300  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

at  $75  a  month  and  a  few  who  have  pensions  of  $100  and  only 
a  very  few,  as  the  Senator  from  New  Hampshire  knows." 

Mr.  Shafroth  :  "Mr.  President,  it  seems  to  me  that  this 
case  is  upon  a  different  basis  from  the  one  suggested  by  the 
Senator  from  Maine.  Dr.  Sternberg  was  a  man  who  con- 
tributed to  science  a  wonderful  discovery  that  has  revolution- 
ized the  treatment  of  one  of  the  most  terrible  diseases  that  has 
ever  scourged  mankind.  It  seems  to  me  as  a  tribute  to  that 
discovery,  if  nothing  else,  the  amendment  offered  by  the 
Senator  from  New  Hampshire  ought  to  be  adopted." 

Mr.  Gallinger:  "Mr.  President,  if  the  Senator  from  Colo- 
rado will  permit  me  I  desire  to  suggest  that  during  the  last  years 
of  Dr.  Sternberg's  life  he  did  remarkable  service  in  the  matter 
of  tuberculosis,  giving  his  time  freely  and  contributing  very 
largely  to  the  knowledge  of  that  dread  disease,  as  well  as  to  the 
knowledge  of  yellow  fever." 

The  Vice  President :  "The  question  is  on  the  amendment  of 
the  Senator  from  New  Hampshire."  (The  amendment  was 
agreed  to.) 

August  5,  1916,  Mr.  Keating  of  Colorado  called  up  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  the  conference  report  on  pensions 
bills  which  included  that  for  Mrs.  Sternberg: 

Mr.  Keating  said :  "Mr.  Speaker,  there  has  been  a  great 
deal  of  discussion  concerning  General  Sternberg's  part  in  the 
campaign  which  resulted  in  the  conquest  of  yellow  fever. 
Perhaps  the  most  impressive  witness  we  can  produce  at  this 
time  is  Dr.  Agramonte,  the  surviving  member  of  the  famous 
Sternberg  Commission.  In  January  of  this  year  Dr.  Agra- 
monte was  in  this  city,  and  he  addressed  the  following  letter 
to  Dr.  George  M.  Kober,  a  distinguished  scientist  and  one  of 
Washington's  esteemed  citizens."     (See  page  218). 

Mr.  Miller  of  Minnesota :  "Mr.  Speaker,  I  would  like  to 
be  recognized  if  I  can  get  the  time." 

Mr.  Mann  :     "The  gentleman  from  Colorato  has  the  time." 

Mr.  Keating  :  "I  will  yield  to  the  gentleman  from  Minne- 
sota."    .     .     . 

The  Speaker:  "The  gentleman  from  Minnesota  (Mr. 
Miller)  is  recognized  for  ten  minutes." 

Mr.  Miller  of  Minnesota:  "Mr.  Speaker  and  gentlemen  of 
the  House,  I  feel  justified  in  asking  for  ten  minutes  by  reason 
of  the  very  deep  interest  that  I  personally  feel  in  the  case,  hav- 
ing known  General  Sternberg  in  his  lifetime ;  and  having  during 
the  past  four  or  five  years  been  pleased  to  make  some  investi- 
gations relative  to  the  incidents  of  the  Civil  War  and  the  subse- 


CONGRESSIONAL    RECOGNITION  301 

quent  period.  I  have  come  to  feel  that  this  particular  item  is 
extraordinary  and  should  receive  the  unanimous  approval  of 
the  membership  of  the  House. 

General  Sternberg  was  one  of  the  giant  figures  of  this 
century.  Modest,  unassuming,  gentle  in  manner,  as  greatness 
always  is,  ever  at  work  each  year  of  his  life,  ever  dedicated  to 
the  public  service,  every  atom  of  his  wonderful  brain  and 
energy  given  to  humanity.  He  never  spoke  of  himself.  His 
modesty  precluded  that  but  medical  history  and  the  military 
history  of  the  last  half  century  speak  for  him.  He  began  his 
public  service,  if  I  can  use  that  term  in  connection  with  the 
career  of  a  surgeon  in  the  Army,  at  the  very  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War.  A  young  man  with  exceptional  attainments  and  a 
splendid  college  training,  he  entered  the  Union  Army  as  a  sur- 
geon and  accompanied  the  Union  forces  to  the  disastrous  field 
of  Bull  Run.  He  did  not  run  from  the  field.  He  remained 
heroically  and  resolutely  at  his  task.  He  stood  on  the  field 
whence  friends  had  fled,  there  where  the  Blue  and  Gray  com- 
mingled lay  upon  the  first  great  battle  field  of  the  Civil  War, 
and  he  bound  up  the  wounds  of  both  alike  (Applause). 

He  was  captured,  of  course,  by  the  Confederates,  and  for  a 
week,  night  and  day,  he  used  his  talent  and  his  energy  to  ease 
the  pain,  to  relieve  the  suffering,  and  to  save  the  boys  of  the 
North  and  South.  He  then  exhibited  that  daring  which  subse- 
quently contributed  to  his  great  professional  success.  His 
parole  expired  and  he  made  his  escape  from  the  prison  camp, 
traveled  25  miles  through  the  wilderness,  swam  the  Potomac 
River,  and  the  next  day  was  ready  for  service  here  in 
Washington. 

Years  afterward  he  presented  the  same  characteristic  for 
heroism  and  consecration  to  duty  in  many  of  the  great  Indian 
campaigns  of  the  West,  such  that  in  one — perhaps  the  most 
notable  that  we  have  had — he  was  recommended  for  con- 
spicuous gallantry  on  the  field  under  fire  and  advanced  to 
brevet  rank  by  reason  of  his  service  on  that  occasion.  He 
rose  to  such  a  position  in  the  Army  medical  service  that  Grover 
Cleveland,  President  of  the  United  States,  in  1893  made  him 
Surgeon-General  of  the  Army,  and  he  immediately  entered 
upon  a  reorganization  of  the  service,  its  development  being 
such  that  the  present  highly  scientific  spirit  and  splendid  con- 
dition is  the  result.  He  occupied  that  important  position  for 
nearly  ten  years. 

But  it  is  not  so  much  his  direct  connection  with  the  military 
branch  of  the  Government  that  commends  this  case  to  me  as  it 
is  the  long  and  distinguished  service  he  rendered  to  humanity. 
In  1871  yellow  fever  appeared  on  Governor's  Island  in  New 
York  Harbor.  At  that  time  familiarity  with  yellow  fever  was 
not  general  in  the  North  and  Dr.  Sternberg  was  a  pioneer  in 


302  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

combating  the  yellow  fever  during  that  epidemic.  His  experi- 
ence gained  at  that  time  was  valuable  to  him  and  to  his  coun- 
try, and  he  was  soon  thereafter  regarded  as  an  authority  on 
the  subject. 

In  1873,  two  years  later,  he  again  met  this  horrible  plague  in 
the  South.  Never  once  faltering,  never  once  wavering,  he 
knew  his  danger,  but  he  battled  and  he  won,  for  the  plague  was 
checked,  the  land  freed  of  the  scourge  and  countless  lives  saved 
by  isolating  the  people,  removing  them  to  a  healthy  island.  But 
he  fell  a  victim  to  the  horrible  fever,  in  the  third  epidemic 
which  he  had  faced  at  Fort  Barrancas,  serving  on  his  field  of 
duty.  He  almost  passed  away,  but  with  impaired  health  he 
was  saved  for  future  work  for  his  country.  He  had  been 
studying  yellow  fever  intimately  and  closely.  He  continued 
that  work  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  performed  those  pre- 
liminary studies  which  narrowed  the  causes  of  yellow  fever 
and  enabled  science  to  get  a  grip  upon  the  dread  disease.  Here 
came  into  play  his  leadership  in  the  realm  of  bacteriology,  his 
trained  mind,  his  extended  experience. 

During  this  period  by  scientific  research  he  demonstrated 
that  the  generally  accepted  theory  of  the  celebrated  bacteriolo- 
gist, Sanarelli,  as  to  the  cause  of  yellow  fever  was  wrong,  as 
were  many  other  theories  that  had  been  advanced,  and  so  nar- 
rowed the  field  of  necessary  investigation  that  his  eyes  were 
squarely  upon  the  mosquito. 

After  he  became  Surgeon-General  of  the  Army,  with  the 
power  at  his  command,  he  organized  this  Yellow  Fever  Com- 
mission and  placed  at  their  disposal  the  twenty-five  years  of  his 
work;  and  he  had  become  known  as  not  only  the  pioneer,  but 
the  greatest  bacteriologist  in  America. 

In  1880,  he  made  one  of  the  greatest  contributions  to  our 
medical  science,  which  was  the  discovery  of  the  microorganism 
which  is  the  cause  of  croupous  pneumonia.  Later  on  he  became 
interested  during  the  closing  years  of  his  life  in  a  general 
organized  movement  throughout  the  country  to  wipe  out  the 
cause  of  tuberculosis.  He  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  Ameri- 
can society  in  this  regard,  and  to  his  labors  he  contributed  all 
of  his  talent  and  a  large  measure  of  his  time. 

You  may  be  interested  to  know  that  when  the  great  Dr. 
Koch,  of  Germany,  was  here  a  few  years  ago  he  placed  his 
hand  upon  the  shoulder  of  General  Sternberg  and  said :  "Here 
is  my  brother  in  the  work,  one  whom  I  admire  among  the  men 
of  the  world."  Well  he  might  have  said  that,  because  in  the 
very  year  that  Dr.  Koch  discovered  the  tuberculosis  bacillus, 
General  Sternberg  demonstrated  and  photographed  it. 

But  as  to  his  work  in  the  yellow  fever  situation  it  seems  to 
me  an  additional  word  might  with  propriety  be  said.  He  was 
the  pioneer,  the  worker,  the  experienced  man.     His  experi- 


CONGRESSIONAL    RECOGNITION  303 

ence,  his  knowledge,  and  his  genius  selected  the  men  for  this 
commission  which  was  to  do  so  much  for  the  world.  He  gave 
them  their  directions  as  to  their  work,  and,  as  they  say,  he  was 
their  inspiration. 

The  distinguished  Dr.  William  H.  Welch,  of  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  Baltimore,  speaks  of  General  Sternberg's  work  in 
the  following  extraordinary  manner. 

'I  was  not  only  intimately  acquainted  personally  with  Gen- 
eral Sternberg,  but  I  am  familiar  with  the  facts  of  his  scientific 
and  professional  career  and  work. 

The  position  of  leadership  attained  by  General  Sternberg 
not  only  in  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  Army  but  in  the  medical 
profession  of  this  country  attested  by  the  important  offices 
which  he  held,  was  based  upon  scientific  and  professional 
achievements  of  the  highest  order  which  brought  him  national 
and  international  fame. 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  the  pioneer  worker  in  the  modern  science 
of  bacteriology  in  this  country,  and  to  this  subject  he  has  made 
contributions  of  great  importance.  He  discovered  the  germ 
which  causes  lobar  pneumonia  and  made  valuable  studies 
relating  to  this  organism.  He  greatly  advanced  our  knowledge, 
both  from  the  scientific  and  the  practical  sides  of  disinfectants 
and  disinfection.  He  published  many  valuable  papers  concern- 
ing infection  and  its  problems,  his  Manual  of  Bacteriology, 
which  appeared  in  1892,  being  a  comprehensive  and  authori- 
tative work. 

General  Sternberg's  researches  upon  yellow  fever,  extend- 
ing over  a  period  of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  are  of  great 
importance  and  an  essential  part  of  that  series  of  investiga- 
tions which  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  mode  of  conveyance 
of  this  pestilence  and  the  method  of  its  prevention.  With  great 
zeal,  industry,  and  skill  he  applied  modern  bacteriological 
methods  to  the  search  for  the  germ  of  yellow  fever  and  to  the 
claims  arising  from  time  to  time  as  to  its  nature.  This  pains- 
taking work  had  to  be  done,  and  it  was  accomplished  by  Gen- 
eral Sternberg  in  a  manner  which  laid  satisfactory  foundations 
for  further  studies.  These  further  studies  were  conducted 
under  his  administration  as  Surgeon-General  of  the  Army  and 
by  the  so-called  Army  Yellow  Fever  Commission  appointed  by 
him  or  upon  his  recommendation.  With  the  work  of  this  com- 
mission he  was  in  constant  touch,  and  he  welcomed  the  epoch- 
making  results  thereby  attained  as  crowning  the  laborious 
series  of  investigations  upon  the  same  subject  which  had  occu- 
pied his  attention  for  so  many  years.' 

It  is  apparent  from  this  bare  mention  of  the  few  of  the  con- 
tributions  of    General    Sternberg   to   medical   science   in   the 


304  GEORGE    M.    STERXBERG 

domain  of  preventive  medicine  that  he  rendered  important 
services  which  deserve  ample  recognition  by  the  Government  of 
his  country. 

The  work  of  this  Yellow  Fever  Commission  is  one  of  the 
great  achievements  in  the  world's  history.  The  Southland  is 
at  last  free  from  the  scourge.  Cuba  has  become  a  health 
spot.  The  work  of  that  commission  enabled  us  to  build  the 
Panama  Canal.  It  has  enabled  us  to  clean  up  western  South 
America  and  the  Central  American  States,  and  the  world  is  no 
longer  subject  to  one  of  the  greatest  of  plagues. 

The  men  of  the  Yellow  Fever  Commission  have  all  gone  but 
one,  these  men  who  solved  the  problem,  the  man  who  organ- 
ized the  Commission  and  was  its  inspiring  genius  and  guide  is 
the  last  to  pass  away.  We  have  recognized  merit  and  worth 
as  we  ought  to.  If  we  do  not,  there  is  no  meaning  to  republic, 
no  meaning  to  free  government,  no  meaning  to  unmeasured 
generous  service  to  humanity.  We  appropriately  have  given  to 
the  widows  of  two  of  the  men  who  were  on  this  commission 
$125  a  month.  One  member  of  the  commission  is  still  living,  a 
Cuban,  Dr.  Agramonte.  As  the  gentleman  from  Colorado 
(Mr.  Keating)  has  said,  he  has  recently  testified  to  the  work 
of  General  Sternberg  in  connection  with  the  Commission. 

Had  General  Sternberg  devoted  even  a  portion  of  his  life- 
time to  acquiring  remuneration  for  his  services,  he  might  have 
died  a  rich  man.  In  my  humble  judgment  he  has  contributed 
more  for  the  well  being  of  humanity  than  almost  any  other 
man  I  can  name  in  the  whole  realm  of  medical  science  during 
the  last  half  century.  It  seems  to  me  that  a  great — I  do  not 
mean  to  say  generous,  but  I  think  I  have  a  right  to  say  a  fairly 
considerate  government  will  recognize  the  lifetime  of  service, 
the  heroic  devotion  and  the  splendid  achievements  of  this  man 
and  honor  his  memory,  a  memory  that  ought  to  be  blessed  and 
hallowed  by  every  man  in  the  South.  He  has  done  more  for 
you  than  any  other  living  man.  I  believe  you  agree  with  me 
that  his  widow,  who  is  now  in  advanced  years,  ought  to  be 
able  to  live  in  reasonable  comfort  during  the  remaining  period 
of  her  life,  and  the  distinguished  services  of  this  noble  man 
thereby  in  some  degree  recognized  by  an  appreciative  Govern- 
ment." 

Other  business  came  up,  but  later  the  conference  report  was 
agreed  to. 


CHAPTER    TWENTY-TWO 

DEDICATION     OF     GENERAL    STERNBERG'S    MONUMENT 

Wednesday,  Nov.  5,  1919,  at  3:30  p.  m.,  a  large  number 
of  friends  of  General  Sternberg  and  the  student  officers  of 
the  Army  Medical  School  assembled  at  the  Arlington  National 
Cemetery  to  participate  in  the  exercises  of  the  unveiling  of 
the  monument  erected  to  his  memory.  A  number  of  appro- 
priate addresses  were  delivered.  Major-Gen.  Merritte  W. 
Ireland,  Surgeon-General,  U.  S.  Army,  spoke  of  General 
Sternberg's  accomplishments  as  Surgeon-General : 

GEORGE     M.     STERNBERG     AS     SURGEON-GENERAL 

We  have  met  today  to  assist  at  the  unveiling  of  a  fitting 
monument  to  one  of  the  most  able  and  eminent  of  the  Surgeon- 
Generals  of  the  United  States  Army.  In  our  Medical  Corps, 
it  is  a  matter  of  historical  pride  that  each  of  the  Surgeon- 
Generals  has  achieved  something  of  importance  in  constructive 
administration  in  his  day.  Sternberg  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  all. 

Of  General  Sternberg's  army  life  and  of  his  scientific  work, 
others  will  speak.  Briefly,  he  was  the  pioneer  bacteriologist 
in  this  country,  the  man  who  first  taught  American  physicians 
how  to  study  and  photograph  organisms,  who,  himself,  dis- 
covered the  germ  of  pneumonia  before  Pasteur  and  described 
it  before  Frankel,  and  who  cleared  the  ground  and  laid  the 
foundation  for  Walter  Reed's  discovery  of  the  mode  of  trans- 
mission of  yellow  fever. 

He  was  Surgeon-General  of  the  United  States  Army  during 
the  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  the  beginning 
of  the  twentieth  century  (1893-1902).  In  these  ten  years 
Sternberg  did  more  constructive  work  for  the  Medical  Corps 
than  any  other  preceding  Surgeon-General.  In  his  adminis- 
tration the  Army  Medical  School,  the  dream  of  all  the 
Surgeon-Generals  since  the  Civil  War,  was  finally  established 
and  made  a  going  concern;  the  Army  Nurse  Corps  and  the 
Dental  Corps  of  the  Army  were  established  by  acts  of  Con- 
gress, and  the  tuberculosis  hospital  at  Fort  Bayard,  N.  M., 
was  established.  All  these  were  entirely  new  departures  in 
military  medicine  and  things  which  have  become  of  extraordi- 
nary moment  in  the  terrible  war  which  we  have  just  gone 
through.  General  Sternberg's  activities  during  the  Spanish 
War  were  of  the  same  creative  type.  He  established  eight  gen- 
eral hospitals,  ordered  the  purchase  and  equipment  of  two 


306  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

hospital  ships  and  a  fully  equipped  hospital  train,  issued 
memorable  circulars  as  to  the  danger  of  typhoid  fever  in 
camps,  the  role  of  flies  in  the  transmission  of  disease  and  the 
importance  of  camp  sanitataion  and  its  prevention.  At  this 
time  the  prevention  of  typhoid  fever  was  an  almost  insoluble 
problem.  The  typhoid  fever  board,  organized  at  General 
Sternberg's  instance,  consisted  of  Reed,  Vaughan  and  Shake- 
speare, and  gave  us  an  entirely  new  point  of  view  for  the 
prevention  of  this  disease.  In  connection  with  his  own  impor- 
tant researches  in  the  causation  of  yellow  fever,  Sternberg 
organized  the  famous  yellow-fever  commission  of  1900,  with 
Major  Walter  Reed  as  chairman.  This  commission  discov- 
ered the  transmission  of  yellow  fever  by  the  mosquito,  which, 
more  than  anything  else,  made  the  construction  of  the  Panama 
Canal  possible.  Other  innovations  made  by  General  Sternberg 
will  always  be  memorable  in  the  Medical  Department  of  the 
Army.  He  was  the  first  to  encourage  medical  officers  to 
engage  in  scientific  research  through  the  establishment  of  lab- 
oratories and  appointments  in  all  the  larger  post  hospitals. 
The  brilliant  record  already  made  by  the  Medical  Corps  in  the 
science  of  infectious  diseases  is  the  result.  Instead  of  dis- 
charging soldiers  for  disabilities,  curable  by  surgical  treat- 
ment, which  might  render  them  life  pensioners  on  the  gov- 
ernment, he  provided  all  new  hospitals  with  well-equipped 
operating  rooms  and  directed  medical  officers  to  operate  in 
such  cases. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  General  Sternberg's  achievements. 
We  dedicate  the  monument,  now  unveiled,  to  the  memory  of 
this  remarkable  man,  whose  name  is  writ  large  in  the  military 
and  scientific  annals  of  this  country. 

STERNBERG     THE     MEDICAL     OFFICER 

Brig.-Gen.  Walter  D.  McCaw,  M.  C,  U.  S.  Army,  sketched 
the  early  career  of  General  Sternberg  as  a  medical  officer,  or 
in  the  homely  phrase  of  frontier  days,  a  "soldier  doctor" : 

By  our  presence  here  today  we  are  paying  a  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  Gen.  George  Miller  Sternberg,  which  I  conceive 
to  be  in  a  large  measure  personal  rather  than  public — a  tribute 
from  some  of  us  who  knew  this  man  as  well  as  his  work. 
We  do  not  celebrate  the  unveiling  of  this  monument  which 
marks  his  last  resting  place  with  music  and  procession  and  long 
orations.  The  stone  itself,  as  befits  a  military  tomb,  is  inscribed 
with  a  few  sentences  only,  but  in  words  that  are  pregnant 
with  meaning  to  those  that  understand.  It  may  be  that  at 
some  future  day  a  public  monument  of  some  kind  may  be  dedi- 
cated to  his  memory  in  the  presence  of  an  appreciative  crowd 


o 


DEDICATION    OF    MONUMENT  307 

of  American  citizens  who  will  know  the  value  to  his  country 
of  General  Sternberg's  career,  without  probably  having  known 
him  in  life,  but  these  modest  ceremonies  today  mark  the  com- 
pletion of  his  personal  monument  and  are  fittingly  celebrated 
by  his  personal  friends. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  rehearse  the  scientific  work  of  General 
Sternberg  with  which  the  world  is  familiar,  but  only  wish  to 
call  attention  to  one  side  of  his  career,  yet  one  on  which  I 
believe  much  of  his  success  was  based,  and  which  illustrates 
a  lesson  to  every  medical  man  who  desires  to  serve  his  coun- 
try in  the  military  and  naval  services. 

General  Sternberg  was  a  plain  medical  officer,  a  "soldier 
doctor,"  as  the  frontier  expression  used  to  go,  before  he  became 
a  scientist  and  an  administrator.  He  served  in  his  junior 
grades  with  troops  in  battle.  He  coped  with  a  cholera  epi- 
demic in  troops  en  route  overland  to  the  Far  West.  He  was 
post  surgeon  and  camp  surgeon  and  performed  the  routine 
of  his  office,  as  we  all  have  had  to  do — "the  daily  round,  the 
common  task" — without  complaint,  efficiently  and  to  the  satis- 
faction of  his  superiors.  He  must  have  had  the  potential 
mind  of  a  scientist  and  the  capacity  for  clear  thinking,  the 
tendency  for  social  service  and  the  tireless  industry  which 
marked  his  career  throughout,  and  yet  these  first  years  of 
military  service  were  not  to  my  mind  wasted,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, formed  a  firm  foundation  for  the  many-sided  activities 
of  his  later  life  when  he  rose  to  the  first  place  in  the  Medical 
Department  and  to  the  highest  grade  in  American  science. 

The  habits  of  obedience,  self-reliance,  and  of  doing  things 
under  adverse  surroundings  and  with  imperfect  equipment  are 
valuable  qualifications  for  all  men.  They  may  be  gained  and 
are  gained  by  every  man  worth  his  salt  in  military  service,  and 
he  who  has  formed  these  habits  is  ready  when  opportunity 
knocks  at  the  door. 

Opportunity  came  to  General  Sternberg ;  he  seized  it,  and  the 
"soldier  doctor"  became  the  scientist  and  the  administrator. 
His  first  policy  as  Surgeon-General,  and  on  the  whole,  I 
believe,  his  greatest  service  to  the  Army,  was  the  prompt  pro- 
vision he  made  for  the  laboratory  research  at  every  military 
post  in  the  country  and  the  establishment  of  the  Army  Medi- 
cal School,  which  offered  to  every  new  officer  a  basic  military- 
medical  training.  He  gave  to  every  medical  officer  an  oppor- 
tunity to  begin  at  least  the  study  of  the  new  and  rapidly  grow- 
ing sciences  of  bacteriology  and  preventive  medicine.  The 
results  of  his  policy  are  now  history,  and  have  caused  to  be 
written  the  fairest  pages  in  the  annals  of  the  Medical  Corps. 


308  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

The  lesson  of  his  accomplishment  is  for  our  younger  officers 
of  the  permanent  establishment.  No  matter  what  the  mental 
equipment  and  the  technical  training  of  the  newly  entered 
medical  officer  may  be,  unless  he  has  had  the  humble  and 
inconspicuous  life  of  a  "soldier  doctor"  with  troops,  caring  for 
his  men,  learning  the  routine  of  Army  custom,  Army  law  and 
Army  drudgery,  he  will  be  crippled  seriously  when  time  brings 
him  high  rank  and  great  responsibility.  He  need  never  fear 
that  opportunity  will  not  occur.  Talent  and  ability  are  not 
so  common  as  to  make  it  at  all  probable  that  they  will  be 
overlooked. 

I  have  had  it  overwhelmingly  impressed  on  me  many  times 
during  the  war,  how  large  was  our  need  for  men  with  scien- 
tific knowledge  indeed,  but  who  also  were  trained  soldiers  and 
administrators.  I  have  thanked  God  many  times  for  those 
we  had  and  for  the  Army  Medical  School,  which  General 
Sternberg  inaugurated  and  which  helped  to  form  these  men 
into  a  small  body  of  loyal,  faithful  and  efficient  public  ser- 
vants— a  body  that  assured  success  in  our  efforts. 

The  great  medical  profession  of  the  United  States  gave  our 
men  such  care  as  no  army  has  ever  received.  The  treatment 
of  sick  and  wounded,  the  prevention  of  disease  and  even 
administration  was  in  preponderating  measure  accomplished 
by  men  with  little  or  no  previous  military  training,  but  our 
possession  of  a  trained  body  of  regular  medical  officers  made 
it  possible  to  coordinate  effort  and  accomplish  results  of  which 
the  nation  may  well  be  proud  and  which  could  not  have  been 
attained  without  such  a  body.  We  worked  together  with  our 
companions  from  civil  life  as  brothers,  and  as  brothers  we 
hope  to  live  together  in  the  future,  in  peace  or  in  war. 

My  impression  of  General  Sternberg  is  preeminently  that  of 
a  "useful"  man ;  one  who  exemplified  the  best  of  our  American 
qualities — a  desire  to  work  for  the  common  good  in  any  way 
that  suggests  itself.  Self-contained,  clear  thinking  and  indus- 
trious, he  loved  to  help  out,  or  as  I  heard  him  express  it,  "lend 
a  hand."  As  a  soldier,  physician,  scientific  investigator,  social 
worker  in  Washington,  his  life  was  marked  by  usefulness. 

All  honor,  then,  to  his  memory,  and  may  those  of  the 
younger  generations  who  see  this  stone  in  future  years  be 
strengthened  in  their  desire  to  serve  the  country  and  the  people 
honestly,  efficiently  and  tirelessly  as  did  the  man  who  lies 
buried  here. 

STERNBERG     THE     MAN 

Col.  Edward  L.  Munson,  M.  C,  U.  S.  Army,  dwelt  on  the 
human  qualities  of  General  Sternberg: 

As  the  only  member  of  General  Sternberg's  official  family 
remaining  on  the  active  list,  it  has  fallen  to  me  to  say  a  few 


DEDICATION    OF    MONUMENT  309 

words  on  the  qualities  that  made  him  respected  as  an  officer, 
honored  as  a  chief  and  beloved  as  a  friend. 

As  the  boy  is  father  of  the  man,  so  the  sterling  qualities 
established  in  early  life  developed  in  General  Sternberg  the  fru- 
ition of  maturity.  As  a  boy,  the  difficulties  he  encountered  and 
overcame  served  to  strengthen  in  him  the  qualities  of  inquiry, 
idealism  and  perseverance  which  brought  about  the  achieve- 
ments of  later  life. 

Born  in  1838,  he  received  his  early  education  at  Hartwick 
Seminary,  Otsego  County,  N.  Y.,  a  Lutheran  institution,  of 
which  his  father,  Rev.  Levi  Sternberg,  was  president,  and  in 
which  his  maternal  grandfather  was  a  professor.  In  this 
academy,  with  its  high  ideals,  strong  religious  influences  and 
simplicity  of  living,  his  youth  was  passed.  That  here  was 
laid  his  foundation  of  lofty  purpose,  of  tireless  industry,  of 
right  and  justice,  of  human  understanding  and  sympathy,  and 
of  reverent  piety  and  practical  Christianity,  is  undoubted. 
Reinforcing  the  academic  influence  was  the  home  atmosphere 
and  parental  love,  softening  the  austerities  of  the  religious 
ideas  of  the  day.  Sprung  from  German  stock  which  had  been 
American  for  several  generations,  he  had  inherited  the 
patriotism  and  traditions  of  ancestors  who  fought  as  soldiers 
in  the  Revolutionary  War  and  had  been  high  in  the  patriotic 
organizations  of  the  time. 

At  16  years  of  age,  the  needs  were  such  that  he  became 
self-supporting,  and  taught  school  at  Germantown,  N.  J.  Here 
the  qualities  of  initiative,  confidence  and  self-reliance  were 
further  stimulated  by  being  charged  with  the  direction  and 
welfare  of  others.  For  three  years  he  continued  this  work, 
building  up  his  own  character  as  he  molded  that  of  his  pupils. 

Of  scientific  bent  and  that  human  sympathy  which  satisfied 
itself  only  in  serving  others,  it  was  only  natural  that  he  should 
select  a  career  in  life  which  offered  the  best  opportunity  for  the 
exercise  of  both  qualities.  This,  the  practice  of  medicine  and 
surgery,  he  entered  on  at  the  age  of  19  years,  assisting  in  the 
office  of  Dr.  Horace  Lathrop  of  Cooperstown,  N.  Y.,  and 
graduating  from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in 
New  York  in  1860.  He  immediately  began  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  Elizabeth,  N.  J. 

On  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  shortly  after,  the  patriot- 
ism of  General  Sternberg  made  him  one  of  the  first  to  offer 
his  services  to  his  country,  and  May  28,  1861,  he  was  commis- 
sioned an  assistant  surgeon  in  the  Army.  There  followed  four 
years  of  war  in  which  he  shared  the  fortunes  and  honors  of 
many  campaigns  and  worthily  carried  responsibilities  beyond 
his  years.  He  learned  to  know  men  and  human  nature  as  a 
result  of  opportunities  such  as  few  enjoy.    Then  came  decades 


310  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

of  service  against  Indians  on  frontier  stations  and  in  the  older 
settled  districts,  in  which  he  learned  his  country  by  contact 
with  its  elements  as  he  had  learned  to  know  its  men.  He 
learned,  too,  to  make  the  most  of  opportunity,  to  rise  above 
the  temporary  disappointments  incident  to  the  service  and  to 
appreciate  that  interruption  merely  delays  and  does  not  thwart 
purpose.  With  his  scientific  instinct,  difficulty  merely  furnished 
further  incentive  to  effort,  and  lesser  duties,  well  performed, 
were  made  to  serve  their  purpose  as  stepping  stones  to  higher 
things.  Contact  with  the  men  of  science  whom  he  sought  out 
gave  him  knowledge  and  incentive  as  he,  on  his  part,  served 
as  an  inspiration  to  them.  In  the  honors  which  came  to  him  he 
was  still  modest  and  unassuming. 

And  so,  in  well-rounded  personality  and  character  and  in 
vigorous  maturity,  he  came  to  be  chief  of  his  corps.  As  such, 
the  qualities  he  had  developed  came  into  official  expression. 
The  scientific  spirit  was  aroused,  professional  ability  was  pro- 
moted. A  just  guiding  hand  helped  the  weaker,  while  it  opened 
the  door  of  opportunity  to  the  ambitious  and  zealous.  A  strong 
man's  ideals  were  tempered  by  knowledge  of  human  character 
and  its  weakness,  and  by  a  sympathy  almost  womanly  in  its 
character.  Faced  with  the  greatest  war  problems  of  a  genera- 
tion, he  bore  without  reply  the  burden  of  many  criticisms 
which  were  unfounded  or  due  to  faults  not  his  own.  For 
others  he  would  not  do  that  which  he  would  not  do  for  him- 
self, and  lest  he  be  led  away  by  preference  or  prejudice,  he 
almost  leaned  backward  in  his  sense  of  justice. 

For  all  this,  we  of  his  staff,  who  knew  him,  his  difficulties 
and  successes  best,  admired  and  loved  him  and  shall  forever 
cherish  his  memory. 

STERNBERG     THE     SCIENTIST 

Col.  Frederick  F.  Russell,  M.  C,  U.  S.  Army,  rehearsed  the 
attainments  of  General  Sternberg  in  the  field  of  science : 

I  feel  deeply  how  great  an  honor  it  is,  to  be  permitted  to  add 
something  to  what  has  already  been  said  about  our  former 
chief.  When  I  entered  the  Medical  Corps  he  was  the  Surgeon- 
General,  and  the  memory  of  the  first  time  I  saw  him  is  distinct 
and  clear  in  my  mind.  Three  of  us,  Ashburn,  Pinkham  and  I, 
had  just  passed  the  ordeal  of  an  Army  examination  board,  and 
the  recorder  of  the  board,  Colonel  Munson,  escorted  us  to  the 
office  of  the  Surgeon-General  and  presented  us  to  General 
Sternberg,  Colonel  Alden  and  Colonel  Smart.  One  of  the 
three,  Dr.  Pinkham,  knew  the  general  more  intimately  than 
Ashburn  and  I,  and  he  asked  to  be  sent  to  Manila,  and  also 
that  he  might  be  furnished  with   one  of  the  general's  unit 


DEDICATION    OF    MONUMENT  311 

laboratory  outfits,  which  were  at  that  time  put  up  in  packing 
cases  in  the  depots,  ready  to  be  given  to  such  members  of  the 
Medical  Corps  as  were  interested  in  the  pursuit  of  bacteriology 
and  sanitary  chemistry.  This  led  to  a  technical  and  intimate 
conversation  regarding  the  variety  of  tropical  diseases  to  be 
encountered  there  in  Manila,  and  the  desirability  and  need  of 
accurate  laboratory  investigation  of  them.  From  my  first  day 
in  the  Corps,  therefore,  I  knew  that  we  had  a  chief  who  was 
an  authoritative  judge  of  the  problems  of  preventive  medicine 
in  its  broadest  aspect.  As  time  went  on  I  learned  more  of  his 
scientific  work,  and  soon  came  to  a  realization  and  appreciation 
of  the  fact  that  in  General  Sternberg  the  Army  and  the  coun- 
try possessed  a  great  contributor  to  scientific  knowledge;  and 
it  is  interesting  to  know  that  all  his  important  contributions 
stand  today,  as  true  as  when  the  work  left  his  hands.  General 
Sternberg  was  a  contributor  to  our  knowledge  of  medicine  and 
biology  in  the  true  and  best  sense  of  the  word.  Not  only  have 
his  statements  of  the  results  stood  the  test  of  time,  but  also 
his  principles  and  in  some  cases  his  methods  are  still  in  use. 

The  work  of  the  pioneer  is  often  rough  and  crude,  yet  that 
cannot  be  said  of  the  work  of  General  Sternberg.  He  was  a 
pioneer  in  bacteriology  in  this  country,  and  by  careful  reading 
and  laborious  experimentation  he  perfected  methods  and 
gained  a  satisfactory  technic  in  bacteriology  under  most 
inauspicious  circumstances.  He  was  actively  engaged  in  a 
general  practice  as  an  Army  surgeon,  often  at  isolated  and 
detached  posts,  with  frequent  changes  of  station,  yet,  never- 
theless, he  continued  his  work  and  completed  the  solution 
of  his  problems  in  spite  of  the  disadvantages  under  which  he 
labored. 

Those  who  knew  and  who  worked  with  him  in  those  days 
testify  to  his  enthusiasm,  his  faith  in  his  work  and  his  untiring 
energy.  Those  who  are  bacteriologists  will  realize  how  perfect 
and  reliable  must  have  been  his  methods  and  the  details  of  his 
technic  to  have  permitted  him  to  carry  on  his  researches  from 
year  to  year,  at  a  time  when  he  was  almost  alone  in  this  coun- 
try in  this  branch  of  medicine.  Professor  Abbott  of  Philadel- 
phia has  stated  that  he  obtained  his  first  knowledge  of  bac- 
teriology from  General  Sternberg,  and  at  that  time  there  was 
none  other  in  the  United  States  capable  of  teaching  it. 

The  soundness  of  General  Sternberg's  work  as  a  bacteriolo- 
gist can  be  judged  more  readily  from  three  things:  (1)  his 
work  on  disinfectants;  (2)  on  the  thermal  death  point  of  bac- 
teria, and  (3)  his  investigation  of  yellow  fever.  Our  elaborate 
methods  of  testing  the  value  of  disinfectants  and  antiseptics 


312  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

all  date  from  his  early  work  which  was  done  under  the 
auspices  of  the  American  Public  Health  Association  and  was 
published  as  the  Lomb  prize  essay.  It  is  difficult  for  us,  at 
this  time,  to  imagine  the  confusion  surrounding  the  subject  of 
disinfection.  Then  no  one  had  any  valid  proof  of  the  differ- 
ential value  of  those  agents,  and  one  man's  work  was  as  good 
as  another's.  General  Sternberg  was  the  first  one  to  bring  order 
out  of  chaos,  and  little  has  been  done  since  his  time  except 
to  add  refinements  of  technic.  His  work  on  the  thermal  death 
point  of  bacteria  stands  today  almost  exactly  as  it  left  his 
hands,  and  in  our  daily  work  we  still  use  the  ingenious  methods 
he  elaborated. 

In  his  long  and  active  life  he  made  many  other  contributions 
to  our  knowledge,  and  one  of  the  most  interesting  relates  to 
his  discovery  of  the  micrococcus  of  pneumonia,  or  as  he  at 
first  called  it,  the  micrococcus  of  sputum  septicemia.  He  dem- 
onstrated, in  the  sputum  of  normal  healthy  persons,  by  means 
of  animal  inoculations,  the  presence  of  an  encapsulated,  gram- 
positive  micrococcus,  and  showed  that  it  was  capable  of  causing 
a  fatal  septicemia  in  rabbits  and  mice.  He  cultivated  the  organ- 
ism and  described  its  cultural  and  biologic  characteristics.  He 
did  not,  however,  associate  it  with  any  disease  process  in 
human  beings ;  that  remained  to  be  done  several  years  later  by 
Frankel.  It  has  sometimes  seemed  to  me  that  perhaps  a  lesson 
might  be  drawn  from  this  experience  which  would  be  of  value 
to  us  today.  It  should  be  remembered  that  in  1880,  when 
Sternberg  discovered  the  micrococcus  of  pneumonia,  the  whole 
United  States  Army  consisted  of  less  than  25,000  persons, 
less  than  one  division  of  our  Army  today,  and  that  these  men 
were  scattered  in  small  groups  over  the  whole  United  States, 
and  that  it  did  not  fall  to  the  lot  of  any  single  army  surgeon 
to  have  very  much  clinical  material  to  investigate.  It  is  rea- 
sonable to  suppose  that  had  he  had  the  clinical  opportunities 
which  Frankel  had,  or  which  we  now  have  in  our  larger  army 
hospitals,  the  completion  of  the  history  of  his  micrococcus 
would  not  have  been  delayed  so  long.  The  lesson  for  us  is  to 
arrange  our  work  so  that  every  medical  officer  will  have,  to 
the  greatest  possible  extent,  intimate  and  continuous  contact 
with  clinical  and  pathologic  material  during  the  greater  part 
of  his  service  in  the  corps. 

The  other  subject  with  which  General  Sternberg's  name 
will  be  always  associated  is  yellow  fever.  He  was  the 
surgeon  at  Fort  Columbus,  Governor's  Island,  New  York 
Harbor,  in  1871,  during  an  outbreak  of  yellow  fever,  and  later 
because  of  his  familiarity  with  the  disease  was  sent  to  the  Gulf 
Coast,  where  he  passed  through  several  epidemics  of  the  dis- 
ease, finally  contracting  it  himself.    His  first  scientific  paper  of 


DEDICATION    OF    MONUMENT  313 

importance  deals  with  the  clinical  aspects  of  cases  of  yellow 
fever.  His  interest  in  the  subject  never  flagged  and  he  added, 
gradually,  pathologic  and  bacteriologic  studies  to  the  clinical. 
When  there  was  no  longer  any  case  of  yellow  fever  in  the 
United  States  for  study,  he  went  to  Havana  and  other  tropical 
ports  where  the  disease  was  endemic,  and  there  made  careful 
and  complete  studies  of  its  bacteriology  and  pathology.  He 
followed  to  its  end  one  clue  after  another,  and  was  so  familiar 
with  the  entire  question  of  the  etiology  that  he  was  able  to  dis- 
prove, time  and  again,  the  claims  of  Freire  of  Brazil,  of  Finlay 
of  Havana  and  of  Sanarelli  and  many  others  that  they  had  dis- 
covered the  causative  organism.  Time  has  shown  the  truth 
and  justice  of  all  his  statements.  The  history  of  yellow  fever 
has  now,  after  almost  fifty  years'  work,  been  completed  with 
the  discovery  of  its  cause  by  Dr.  Noguchi. 

It  is  more  than  merely  interesting  to  trace  the  steps  of  the 
work:  It  started  with  General  Sternberg  in  1871 ;  he  exhausted 
all  the  possibilities  there  were,  using  the  methods  of  investi- 
gation then  known,  and  finally  took  the  position  that  the  organ- 
ism must  be  ultramicroscopic.  After  he  became  Surgeon- 
General,  in  1893,  it  was  no  longer  possible  for  him  to  conduct 
his  researches  in  person,  yet  his  interest  never  abated,  and 
when,  in  1900,  the  disease  again  became  a  menace  to  our  Army, 
he  organized  a  yellow-fever  commission  and  placed  Walter 
Reed  at  its  head.  The  commission  demonstrated  conclusively 
and  for  all  time  the  method  of  transmission  of  the  disease  by 
mosquitoes.  This  investigation  stands  as  one  of  the  most  bril- 
liant ever  made  in  medicine.  The  third  step  followed  directly 
and  consisted  in  the  application,  by  General  Gorgas,  of  the 
principles  discovered  by  Reed's  commission  to  the  condition 
existing  in  Havana.  This  step  was  also  brilliantly  successful, 
and  led  to  the  complete  eradication  of  the  yellow  plague,  first 
from  Havana,  and  later  from  most  other  Gulf  ports,  including 
Colon  and  Panama  on  the  Isthmus.  The  fourth  and  last  step  has 
been  taken  so  recently  that  all  may  not  be  aware  of  it.  A 
yellow-fever  commission,  of  which  General  Gorgas  is  the  head, 
was  organized  by  the  International  Health  Board  of  the  Rocke- 
feller Foundation,  and  this  commission  sent  Dr.  Noguchi  to 
Guayaquil  to  study  the  etiology  of  the  disease.  He  was  also 
successful  and  demonstrated  an  organism,  which  he  christened 
the  Leptospira  icteroides,  as  the  cause  of  yellow  fever.  He 
has  reproduced  the  disease  in  animals  and  has  developed  a 
vaccine  for  prophylactic  use  and  a  curative  serum  for  thera- 
peutic use. 

So  we  may  now  agree  that  the  story  of  yellow  fever  is  con- 
cluded, and  we  can  see  the  definite  separation  of  the  story 
into  four  chapters,  the  title,  the  theme,  and  the  opening  one 


314  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

being  written  by  General  Sternberg,  and  the  other  being  writ- 
ten by  a  direct  line  of  three  others,  Reed  and  Gorgas  having 
worked  under  Sternberg  and  Noguchi  under  Gorgas.  I  can 
think  of  no  other  disease  whose  whole  history,  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  its  serious  investigation,  has  been  written 
by  a  single  small  and  closely  connected  group  in  America, 
without  a  single  contribution  of  value  from  any  one  else.  It 
seems  as  though  the  impetus  which  General  Sternberg  gave 
the  investigation  was  sufficient  to  inspire  each  of  his  successors 
in  turn  to  a  successful  consummation  of  his  own  particular 
problem. 

In  looking  back  over  the  history  of  the  Medical  Corps,  it  is 
evident  that  the  appointment  of  General  Sternberg  to  the 
Surgeon-Generalcy  in  1893  marks  an  epoch.  With  him  came 
the  new  medical  and  new  scientific  knowledge.  As  a  true  sci- 
entist he  believed  in  applying  the  experimental  method  to  the 
art  of  medicine,  and  besides  making  contributions  to  our  knowl- 
edge himself,  he  made  it  possible  for  others  to  carry  on  inves- 
tigations also.  He  established  the  Army  Medical  School  in 
1893,  built  and  rebuilt  many  of  our  army  hospitals  and  included 
in  the  plans  rooms  for  laboratories  and  better  operating  rooms. 
And  from  that  time  it  has  been  possible  for  any  medical  officer 
in  the  Army  to  improve  himself  in  the  science  and  the  art  of 
medicine  and  surgery. 

Any  one  would  be  justified  in  stating  that  the  renaissance 
of  scientific  medicine  in  the  Army  dates  from  the  beginning  of 
his  administration. 

STERNBERG     THE     PHILANTHROPIST 

General  Sternberg's  philanthropic  works  were  recounted  by 
Dr.  George  M.  Kober: 

We  had  hoped  that  Prof.  William  H.  Welch  would  be  pres- 
ent to  speak  of  Dr.  Sternberg's  scientific  work.  The  following 
letter  explains  his  absence : 

"It  is  with  extreme  regret  that  I  find  myself  unable  to  be 
present  at  the  unveiling  of  the  General  Sternberg  memorial, 
Wednesday,  November  5.  There  is  an  important  meeting  on 
that  afternoon  at  our  school  of  hygiene  and  public  health 
which  I  must  attend.  I  hope  that  Mrs.  Sternberg  and  others 
will  understand  that  no  ordinary  circumstances  would  prevent 
me  from  paying  my  tribute  of  respect  to  General  Sternberg,  to 
whom  I  was  greatly  attached  and  whose  memory  I  revere." 

Dr.  Welch's  appreciation  of  General  Sternberg's  scientific 
work  is  beautifully  expressed  in  the  epitaphs  on  the  monument, 
which  he  indited  in  association  with  other  medical  officers  of 


DEDICATION    OF    MONUMENT  315 

the  Army.1  But  like  the  great  and  good  man  that  Dr.  Welch  is, 
he  gladdened  the  evening  of  Dr.  Sternberg's  life,  as  shown  by 
the  following  extracts  from  a  letter  dated  April  13,  1910: 

"I  regard  you  as  the  real  pioneer  of  modern  bacteriologic 
work  in  this  country,  and  I  have  always  admired  the  way  in 
which  you  mastered  the  technic  and  the  literature  of  the  sub- 
ject and  made  yourself  an  important  contributor  to  the  devel- 
opment of  the  new  science  by  sheer  perseverance  and  native 
ability  under  circumstances  which  would  have  discouraged  one 
of  less  force  and  aptitude  for  the  study  of  nature." 

Admiral  Stitt  of  the  U.  S.  Naval  Medical  School  writes: 
"As  must  be  true  of  all  other  workers  in  bacteriology,  I  con- 
sider Dr.  Sternberg's  as  the  greatest  name  in  American 
bacteriology." 

Prof.  W.  T.  Councilman  of  Harvard  Medical  School  writes 
under  date  of  October  28 :  "It  is  fitting  that  the  life  and  work 
of  General  Sternberg  should  be  written  and  the  greatness  of 
the  man  and  his  work  be  made  fully  known.  It  was  an  arduous 
life  directed  by  noble  purpose. 

It  was  my  fortune  to  be  closely  associated  with  him  for  a 
number  of  years,  and  during  this  time  I  learned  to  have  deep 
respect  and  admiration  for  him,  together  with  a  warm  per- 
sonal feeling  of  fondness.  He  was  a  most  tireless  investiga- 
tor, shrinking  from  no  difficulty  which  presented  itself  and 
never  thinking  of  privation.  He  has  left  the  record  of  a  noble 
life  and  his  work  has  brought  truth  nearer  to  man." 

Dr.  Sternberg  was  not  only  a  great  scientist;  he  was  also  a 
philanthropist  in  the  fullest  and  most  beautiful  meaning  of  the 
word.  A  review  of  his  scientific  work  shows  that  he  always 
sought  the  application  of  science  to  the  amelioration  of  human 
ills.  His  first  important  work  in  bacteriology  was  on  disinfec- 
tants and  disinfection  as  a  means  of  preventing  the  so-called 
germ  diseases,  a  work  of  incalculable  value  to  mankind.  He 
never  lost  an  opportunity  to  impress  on  the  profession  and  the 
public  that  the  eradication  of  preventable  diseases  is  the  high- 
est aim  of  scientific  medicine. 


1.  Pioneer  American  Bacteriologist.  Distinguished  by  his  studies 
of  the  causation  and  prevention  of  infectious  diseases,  by  his  discovery 
of  the  microorganism  causing  pneumonia,  and  scientific  investigations 
of  yellow  fever,  which  paved  the  way  for  the  experimental  demon- 
stration of  the  mode  of  transmission  of  this  pestilence. 

Veteran  of  three  wars,  Brevetted  for  bravery  in  action  in  the  Civil 
War  and  Nez  Perces  War.  Served  as  Surgeon-General  of  the  U.  S. 
Army  for  a  period  of  nine  years,  including  the  Spanish  War.  Founder 
of  the  Army  Medical  School.  Scientist,  Author  and  Philanthropist, 
M.D.,  LL.D. 


316  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

It  was  not  possible  for  a  man  of  Dr.  Sternberg's  humani- 
tarian attributes  to  rest  content  with  the  scientific  knowledge 
that  polluted  water  and  impure  milk  are  potent  factors  in  the 
spread  of  typhoid  fever  and  that  insanitary  houses  and  low 
standards  of  living  are  largely  responsible  for  the  prevalence 
of  tuberculosis,  but  he  must  make  practical  application  of 
this  knowledge. 

We  therefore  found  him  in  the  front  rank  and  as  a  leader 
in  the  campaign  for  pure  water  and  milk,  removal  of  slums 
and  the  erection  of  sanitary  homes  in  the  National  Capital. 
As  a  result  of  his  efforts  the  Washington  sanitary  housing  com- 
panies were  organized,  which  have  provided  healthful  homes 
at  reasonable  rates  for  over  800  wage  earners  and  their  fami- 
lies. The  success  of  this  enterprise  led  to  a  reproduction  of 
these  houses  on  even  a  larger  scale  in  this  and  other  cities,  and 
secured  for  him  a  gold  medal  at  the  International  Exposition 
held  in  Paris  in  1900. 

Dr.  Sternberg  fully  appreciated  that  the  health  of  a  com- 
munity depends  in  a  large  degree  on  the  efficiency  of  the 
health  officer,  and  when  in  1900  there  was  danger  of  a  change 
in  the  administration  of  that  office,  he  enlisted  the  support  of 
President  McKinley  in  keeping  the  "right  man  in  the  right 
place."  He  was  also  ever  helpful  in  securing  additional  appro- 
priations for  the  maintenance  of  an  efficient  health  service.  All 
of  this  was  done  while  he  held  the  position  of  Surgeon-General. 
When,  in  June,  1902,  he  retired  from  his  official  position, 
instead  of  taking  his  ease,  he  remained  a  scientist,  a  practical 
worker  and  a  fighter  in  the  first  ranks  against  disease  and 
poverty. 

Having  been  the  first  in  America  to  demonstrate  the  tubercle 
bacillus  discovered  by  Koch,  in  1881,  and  familiar  with  the 
cause  and  prevention  of  tuberculosis,  it  was  natural  that  he 
should  labor  long  and  faithfully  in  the  campaign  against  this 
disease.  He  was  a  charter  member  of  the  National  Association 
and  president  of  the  local  Society  for  the  Study  and  Preven- 
tion of  Tuberculosis.  During  this  time  he  was  the  leader  of  a 
great  educational  campaign :  he  established  several  dispensaries, 
urged  the  erection  of  the  municipal  hospital  for  indigent 
patients  and  also  established  a  sanatorium  for  the  middle-class 
victims  of  this  disease.  He  was  also  instrumental  in  securing 
the  enactment  of  a  law  providing  for  the  condemnation  of 
houses  unfit  for  human  habitataion,  and  the  compulsory  regis- 
tration of  tuberculous  patients. 

The  influence  of  his  beneficent  work  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  the  tuberculosis  death  rate  in  this  city  has  been  reduced 
among  the  colored  population  from  492  per  100,000  in  1900,  to 
312  in  1917,  and  the  death  rate  among  the  white  population 
from  188  in  1900,  to  93  in  1917. 


DEDICATION    OF    MONUMENT  317 

In  1907  he  was  chairman  of  President  Roosevelt's  homes 
commission,  which  submitted  a  report  of  lasting  value  in  mat- 
ters relating  to  housing,  social  and  industrial  betterment.  Dr. 
Sternberg  was  also  a  member  of  the  committee  on  organization 
of  the  International  Congress  on  Tuberculosis  held  in  Wash- 
ington, in  1908,  and  of  the  Fifteenth  International  Congress  on 
Hygiene,  Sept.  16-Oct.  5,  1912. 

He  worked  assiduously  with  all  organizations  striving  for 
the  establishment  of  higher  standards  of  living  so  that  the 
physical  development  of  the  nation  may  be  more  perfect,  life 
more  vigorous,  decay  less  rapid  and  death  more  remote.  Dr. 
Sternberg  had  lived  a  lifetime  of  service  to  his  fellow  men,  as 
shown  by  his  scientific  and  practical  contributions  to  preventive 
medicine,  his  participation  in  the  eradication  of  preventable  dis- 
ease and  his  kindly  ministration  to  the  sick  and  distressed.  In 
all  these  activities  his  only  protest  against  cares  was  silence. 
Dignity  met  his  responsibilities,  humility  and  equanimity  his 
successes  and  disappointments.  He  leaves  a  memory  of  patriot- 
ism and  good  citizenship,  a  memory  of  brotherly  love  and  good 
deeds. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY    OF    GEORGE    M.     STERNBERG 

(Prepared  by  Mr.  Cary  R.  Sage,  Library  of  the  Surgeon-General's  Office, 
Washington,  D.    C.) 

—  1875  — 

An  Inquiry  Into  the  Modus  Operandi  of  the  Yellow  Fever  Poison, 
New  Orleans  M.  &  S.  J.  (n.  s.)  3:1-23  (July)   1875. 

Observations  upon  the  Urine  in  Yellow  Fever,  New  Orleans  M.  &  S.  J. 
(n.  s.)  3:197-202,  1875. 

—  1877  — 

A  Study  of  the  Natural  History  of  Yellow  Fever  and  Some  Remarks 
upon  the  Treatment  Based  upon  the  Same ;  with  Cases  and  Tables 
of  Observations  upon  the  Temperature  and  Urine,  New  Orleans  M. 
&  S.  J.  (n.  s.)  4:638-674,  1877. 

—  1879  — 

On  Yellow  Fever  (Abstr.),  Tr.  Epidemiol.  Soc.  Lond.  4:39-52,  1879. 

Photomicrographs,  Washington,  1879. 

The  Public  Health  Association  and  Yellow  Fever,  Med.  Rec.  15:45, 

1879. 
Experiments   Designed   to   Test   the  Value   of   Certain   Gaseous   and 

Volatile  Disinfectants,  National  Bd.  Health  Bull.  1:219,  227,  287, 

365,  1879. 
Preliminary  Report  of  the  Havana  Yellow  Fever  Commission  of  the 

National    Board    of    Health,    Submitted    Nov.    18,    1879     (with 

S.  E.  Chaille),  National  Bd.  Health  Bull.  1:    Suppl.  No.  1,  1-19, 

1879. 

—  1880  — 

The  Microscopical  Investigations  of  the  Havana  Yellow  Fever  Com- 
mission, New  Orleans  M.  &  S.  J.  (n.  s.)  7:1017-1024  (May)  1880; 
Proc.  Am.  Assn.  Advance.  Sc.  29:381-386,  1881. 

The  Diagnosis  of  Yellow  Fever;  Yellow  Fever  and  Quarantine,  New 
Orleans,  L.  Graham  &  Son,  1880. 

Report  of  Microscopical  Examination  of  Suspended  Particles  Found 
in  the  Atmosphere,  National  Bd.  Health  Rep.  2:387-396,  1880. 

Yellow  Fever  and  Quarantine,  Am.  Pub.  Health  Ass.  Rep.  6:351-357, 
1880. 

Reports  in  Regard  to  a  Form  of  Fever  Recently  Prevailing  on  the 
Lower  Mississippi  River  (with  J.  Dickson  Bruns  and  John  P. 
Davidson),  New  Orleans  M.  &  S.  J.  8:382-398,  1880. 

A  Letter,  New  Orleans  M.  &  S.  J.  (n.  s.)  8:482-487,  1880. 

—  1881  — 

A  Prediction  Verified,  Phila.  M.  Times  11:592,  1881. 

A  Fatal  Form  of  Septicaemia  in  the  Rabbit,  Produced  by  the  Sub- 
cutaneous Injection  of  Human  Saliva,  National  Bd.  Health  Bull. 
2:781-783,  1881;  National  Bd.  Health  Rep.  3:87-92,  1881;  Tohns 
Hopkins  Univ.  Stud.  Biol.  Lab.  2:183-200,  1882;  Tr.  Med.  &  Chir. 
Fac.  Maryland  83:210-219,  1881. 


320  GEORGE    M.    STERNBERG 

Bacillus  Anthracis,  Am.  Month.  Micr.  J.  2:148  (August)   1881. 

Fiebre  amarilla;  informe  preliminar  que  a  nombre  de  la  comision 
americana  para  el  estudio  de  la  fiebre  amarilla  han  presentado  el 
18  de  noviembre  de  1879  al  Consejo  Nacional  de  sanidad  de  los 
Estados  Unidos  (with  S.  E.  Chaille),  Bol.  de  med.  nav.,  San 
Fernando  3:225,  258,  277,  1880;  4:53,  77,  137,  169,  219,  245,  1881. 

An  Instructive  Experiment,  Med.  Rec.  20:339,  1881.      , 

What  is  the  Explanation  of  the  Protection  from  Subsequent  Attacks 
Resulting  from  an  Attack  of  Certain  Diseases,  and  of  the  Pro- 
tective Influence  of  Vaccination  against  Smallpox?  Am.  J.  M.  Sc. 
81:373-378,  1881. 

Yellow  Fever,  Cycl.  Pract.  Med.   (Ziemssen)   Suppl.,  45-73,  1881. 

Experimental  Investigations  Relating  to  the  Etiology  of  the  Malarial 
Fevers,  National  Bd.  Health  Bull.  3:  Suppl.  No.  14,  1-11,  1881; 
National  Bd.  Health  Rep.  3:65-86,  1881. 

—  1882  — 

Experiments  with  Disinfectants,  National  Bd.  Health  Bull.  3:21,  68, 
1881;  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.  Stud.  Bioi.  Lab.  2:201-212,  1882. 

Bacteria  and  the  Germ  Theory  of  Disease,  Tr.  M.  Soc.  Calif.  12:193- 
198,  1882. 

Bacterial  Organisms,  Western  Lancet  11:198-203,  1882. 

A  Contribution  to  the  Study  of  the  Bacterial  Organisms  Commonly 
Found  on  Exposed  Mucous  Surfaces  and  in  the  Alimentary  Canal 
of  Healthy  Individuals,  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.  Stud.  Biol.  Lab.  2: 
157-181,  1882;  Proc.  Am.  Assn.  Advance.  Sc.  30:83-94,  1882;  French 
translation:  J.  de  microgr.  7:129-140,  1883. 

Induced  Septicaemia  in  the  Rabbit,  Am.  J.  M.  Sc.  84:69-76,  1882. 

Is  Tuberculosis  a  Parasitic  Disease?  Med.  News  41:6,  87,  311,  564, 
730,  1882. 

The  Recognition  of  Micrococci,  Med.  Rec.  21:368-370,  22:429,  1882. 

The  Value  of  Carbolic  Acid  as  a  Germicide  as  Established  by  Experi- 
mental Data,  Med.  Rec.  22:314-317,  1882. 

Virulence  of  Normal  Human  Saliva,  Phila.  M.  Times  12:836-839,  13: 
80-82,  1881;  Med.  News  41:332-334,  1882. 

Malaria,  Sank.  Engin.  7:126,  147,  172,  1882. 

—  1883  — 

Experiments  to  Determine  the  Germicide  Value  of  Certain  Therapeutic 

Agents,  Am.  J.  M.  Sc.  85:321-343,  1883. 
The  Micrococcus  of  Gonorrheal  Pus,  Med.  News  42:67,  96,  323,  1883. 
Photomicrographs  and  How  to  Make  Them,  Boston,  J.  R.  Osgood  & 

Co.,  1883. 

—  1  884  — 

Malaria,  Am.  Pub.   Health  Ass.   Rep.  9:31-54,   1883;   Med.   Rec.  25: 

253,  281,  1884. 
Bacteria,  New  York,  William  Wood  and  Co.,  1884. 
Further  Experiments  with  the  Micrococcus  of  Gonorrheal  Pus,  "Gono- 

coccus"  of  Neisser,  Med.  News  45:426-429,  1884. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  321 

Malaria  and  Malarial  Diseases,  New  York,  William  Wood  and  Co., 

1884. 
Disease  Germs,  Am.  Pub.  Health  Ass.  Rep.  10:69-78,  1884;  Med.  Rec. 

26:451-455,  1884. 

—  1  885  — 

American  Public  Health  Association.  Preliminary  Report  on  Disin- 
fection and  Disinfectants  made  by  the  Committee  on  Disinfectants 
(April),  1885. 

Commercial  Disinfectants,  Med.  News  46:144-147,  1885. 

The  Comparative  Antiseptic  Value  of  the  Salts  and  Oxides  of  Mer- 
cury, Med.  News  47:287,  1885. 

The  Destruction  of  Cholera  Germs,  in  A  Treatise  on  Asiatic  Cholera. 
edited  by  E.  C.  Wendt,  New  York,  1885,  pp.  325-335. 

Disinfectants,  the  Metallic  Sulphates,  Med.  News  47:204,  1885. 

The  Germicide  Power  of  Potassium  Permanganate,  Med.  News  46: 
30-35,  1885. 

Injection  of  Finely  Powdered  Inorganic  Material  Into  the  Abdominal 
Cavity  of  Rabbits  Does  Not  Induce  Tuberculosis ;  an  Experimental 
Research,  with  Pathological  Notes  by  W.  T.  Councilman,  Am.  J. 
M.  Sc.  (n.  s.)  89:17-30,  1885. 

Poisonous  Cheese,  Board  Health  Mich.  Rep.  13:218-220,  1885. 

The  Pneumonia  Coccus  of  Friedlander  (Micrococcus  Pasteuri,  Stern- 
berg), Am.  J.  M.  Sc.  (n.  s.)  90:106-123,  435-438,  1885;  also  appen- 
dix to  See,  Germain :  Diseases  of  the  Lungs,  New  York,  1885. 

Practical  Experiments  on  the  Sterilization  of  Feces,  Med.  News  47: 
368,  1885. 

Reply  to  Dr.  Duggan,  Med.  Rec.  28:643,  1885. 

What  Is  the  Explanation  of  Acquired  Immunity  from  Infectious  Dis- 
eases? Lancet  1:655,  696,  1885. 

—  1886  — 

Disinfection  and  Individual  Prophylaxis  Against  Infectious  Diseases. 
Concord,  N.  H,  1886;  Am.  Pub.  Health  Assn.  Pub.  Health,  The 
Lomb  Prize  Essays,  1886,  pp.  99-136;  Rep.  Board  Health  Calif., 
Sacramento  9:241-270,  1884-86;  German  Translation,  1886;  Danish 
Translation,  Biblioth.  f.  Laeger  17:185-242,  1887;  Portuguese 
Translation,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Laemert  &  Co.,  1889.  Revised  in 
December,  1899,  Columbus,  -Ohio,  Berlin  Printing  Company,  1900. 

The  Bacillus  of  Typhoid  Fever  (Typhus  Bacillus  of  Eberth),  Med. 
News  49:197-202,  1886. 

Bacteriological  Notes,  Med.  News  48:678,  706,  1886. 

Inoculation  Experiments  with  Rabies  Virus  at  Baltimore,  Med.  News 
48:675,  1886. 

The  Malarial  "Germ"  of  Laveran,  Science  7:297-299,  1886;  Med.  Rec. 
29:489,  517,  1886. 

Micrococcus  Pasteuri,  Am.  J.  M.  Sc.  (n.  s.)  92:123-131,  1886;  J.  Roy. 
Microsc.  Soc.  (2d  s.)  6:391-396,  1886. 

Pasteur's  Method  for  the  Prevention  of  Hydrophobia,  Med.  News  48: 
449-453,  1886. 


322  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

—  1887  — 

American  Public  Health  Association.    Fifteenth  Annual  Meeting:  The 

Annual  Address,  Med.  News  51:557-561,  585-589,  1887;  Am.  Pub. 

Health  Assn.  Rep.  13:1-21,  1887. 
American    Public    Health   Association.     Committee    on    Disinfectants, 

1887:  Report  of  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  Am.  Pub.  Health 

Assn.  Rep.  13:64-201,  1887. 
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1887. 
The  Liquefaction  of  Gelatine  by  Bacteria,  Med.  News  50:372,  1887. 
Der   Micrococcus   der    Sputumsepticaemie    (M.    Pasteuri,    Sternberg), 

Deutsche  med.  Wchnschr.  13:44,  1887. 
The  President's  Address,  Am.  Pub.  Health  Ass.  Rep.  13:1-21,  1887. 
The  Thermal  Death-Point  of  Pathogenic  Organisms,  Am.  J.  M.  Sc. 

(n.  s.)  94:146-160,  1887. 

—  1  8  8  8  — 

Fiebre   amarilla :    comunicacion    a   la   Academia,    Rev.   de   cien.    med. 

Habana,  No.  40,  10,  1888. 
Investigations   Relating  to  the   Etiology  and   Prophylaxis   of   Yellow 

Fever,  Tr.  Coll.  Phys.  Philadelphia  (3d  s.)  10:  339-365,  1888;  abst. 

Med.  News  52:449-456,  1888. 
Investigaciones  sobre  fiebre  amarilla,  An.  r.  Acad,  de  cien.  med.  de  la 

Habana  25:59-63,  1888;  Cronica  med.-quirurg.  de  la  Habana  14: 

335-337,  1888. 
Preliminary    Note    on    a    New    Method    of    Treating    Yellow    Fever, 

Therap.  Gaz.   (3d  s.)   4:524-526,  1888. 
Recent  Researches  Relating  to  the  Etiology  of  Yellow  Fever,  Tr.  Ass. 

Am.  Physicians  3:321-329,  1888;  abst.  J.  A.  M.  A.  13:771-773,  1889; 

Am.  Pub.  Health  Ass.  Rep.  15:170-172,  1889. 

—  1889  — 

Additional  Note  on  the  Treatment  of  Yellow  Fever,  Therap.  Gaz. 
(3d  s.)  5:388,  1889. 

Bacillus  Diphtheriae  (Loeffler),  Brooklyn  M.  J.  3:145-153,  1889. 

Bicarbonate  of  Sodium  and  Bichloride  of  Mercury  in  the  Treatment 
of  Yellow  Fever,  Therap.  Gaz.  (3d  s.)  5:298-304,  1889. 

The  Treatment  of  Yellow  Fever  with  Sodium  Bicarbonate  and  Mer- 
curic Chloride,  Johns  Hopkins  Hosp.  Bull.  1:68,  1889. 

The  Etiology  of  Croupous  Pneumonia,  Med.  Rec.  35:281,  309,  1889; 
Lancet  1:370,  420,  474,  1889;  Tr.  M.  Soc.  New  York,  53-80,  1889; 
National  M.  Rev.  7:175-177,  1898;  J.  Pract.  Med.  8:306,  1898. 

Hunting  Yellow  Fever  Germs,  Med.  News  54:253-256,  1889;  Proc. 
Quarant.  Confer.,  90-102,  1889. 

Report  on  the  Prevention  of  Yellow  Fever  by  Inoculation,  Made  in 
Compliance  with  Instructions  from  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  in  Accordance  with  an  Act  of  Congress  Providing  for 
the  Civil  Expenses  of  the  Government  for  the  Year  Ending  June 
30,  1888,  Submitted  in  March,  1888,  Rep.  Superv.  Surg.-Gen.  Marine 
Hosp.  Service,  135-239,  1889. 

Etiologia  de  la  fiebre  amarilla,  An.  r.  Acad,  de  cien.  med.  de  la 
Habana  26:227-230,  1889-1890. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  323 

—  1890  — 

Dr.  Freire's  Protective  Inoculation :  Facts  Versus  Figures,  Med  Rec. 

37:524-526,  1890. 
Cocoanut-Water  as  a  Culture  Fluid,  Med.  News  57:262,  1890. 
Facts  Versus  Figures,  Yellow  Fever  Inoculation,  J.  A.  M.  A.  15:142- 

144,  1890. 
Report  on  the  Etiology  and  Prevention  of  Yellow  Fever,  Washington, 

1890. 
Report  on  the  Sanitation  of  Ships  and  Quarantine.     Prepared  by  the 

Supervising  Surgeon-General,  U.  S.  Marine  Hospital  Service  (with 

John  B.  Hamilton,  Surg-Gen.),  Rep.  U.  S.  Marine  Hosp.  Service 

18:85-95,  1890.    Sen.  Exec.  Doc.  121,  51st  Cong.,  1st  Sess. 
Bacteriological  Researches  in  Yellow  Fever,  Tr.  New  York  Acad.  M. 

(2d  s.)  7:313-316,  1890. 

— 1891  — 

The  Disinfection  of  Excreta,  J.  A.  M.  A.  17:290-294,  1891. 

Dr.   Finlay's  Mosquito  Inoculations,  Am.  J.  M.   Sc.    (n.  s.)    102:627- 

630,  1891. 
Disinfection,  in  Hare's   System   of  Practical   Therapeutics,  1:573-598, 

1891. 

—  1892  — 

The  Biological  Characters  of  the  Cholera  Spirillum — Spirillum  Cholerae 

Asiaticae  (Comma  Bacillus  of  Koch) — and  Disinfection  in  Cholera, 

Med.  Rec.  42:387-391,  1892. 
Infectious  Diseases,  Causation  and  Immunity,  Popular  Sc.  Month.  41: 

616-635,  1892. 
Micrococcus  Pneumoniae  Crouposae,  Med.  News  60:153,  1892;  Lancet 

1:682,  1892;  Centralbl.  f.  Bakteriol.  u.  Parasitenk.  12:53-56,  1892. 
Practical  Results  of  Bacteriological  Researches,  Am.  J.  M.  Sc.  (n.  s.) 

104:1-15,  1892. 
Protective  Inoculations   in  Infectious  Diseases,  Tr.  Am.  Pub.  Health 

Assn.  18:273-291,  1892;  Boston  M.  &  S.  J.  128:29,  56,  1893. 

—  1893  — 

A  Manual  of  Bacteriology,  New  York,  Wm.  Wood  and  Company,  1893. 

Address  to  Members  of  Pan-American  Medical  Congress,  J.  A.  M.  A. 

21:369-375,  1893. 
Disinfection  at  Quarantine  Stations,  Especially  Against  Cholera,  New 

York  M.  J.  57:57-62,  1893. 
Bacteriological  Report  on  Cholera,  Am.  J.  M.  Sc.  105:388-393  (April) 

1893. 
How  Can  We  Prevent  Cholera?  Med.  Leg.  J.  11:1-8,  1893. 

—  1894  — 

The  Action  of  Sunlight  on  Micro-Organisms   (with  J.  T.  Dezendorf), 

Med.  Rec.  46:607,  1894. 
The  Bacteriology  of  Pyelonephritis,  Am.  J.  M.  Sc.  (n.  s.)  107:664-669. 

1894;  Tr.  Cong.  Am.  Phys.  &  Surg.  3:172-181,  1894. 


324  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

—  1895  — 

Explanation  of  Acquired  Immunity  from  Infectious  Diseases,  Science 
(n.  s.)  1:346-349,  1895. 

Immunity,  Protective  Inoculations  in  Infectious  Diseases  and  Serum- 
Therapy,  New  York,  Wm.  Wood  and  Company,  1895. 

Introductory  Address  Delivered  September  30  at  the  College  Building, 
Georgetown  University,  District  of  Columbia,  J.  A.  M.  A.  25:689- 
696,  1895. 

The  Proofs  of  Progress,  Med.  Rec.  48:508-512,  1895. 

Report  of  Immunity  Against  Vaccination  Conferred  on  the  Monkey  by 
the  Use  of  the  Serum  of  the  Vaccinated  Calf  and  Monkey  (with 
Walter  Reed),  Tr.  Assn.  Am.  Physicians   10:57-69,   1895. 

President's  Address,  Association  of  Military  Surgeons,  Proc.  Assn. 
Mil.  Surg.  U.  S.  5:8-22,  1895. 

—  1896  — 

The  Practical  Results  of  Bacteriological  Researches,  Popular  Sc. 
Month.  48:735-750,  1896. 

The  Etiology  and  Classification  of  Infectious  Diseases,  Am.  J.  M.  Sc. 
(n.  s.)  112:649-667,  1896. 

The  History  and  Geographical  Distribution  of  Yellow  Fever,  Janus 
1:195-201,  1896. 

Pasteur,  Science  (n.  s.)  3:185-189,  1896. 

Scientific  Researches  Relating  to  the  Specific  Infectious  Agent  of 
Smalbpox  and  the  Production  of  Artificial  Immunity  from  This 
Disease,  J.  A.  M.  A.  26:919-928,  1896;  German  Translation: 
Centralbl.  f.  Bakteriol.  1  Abt.  19:805,  857,  1896. 

A  Textbook  of  Bacteriology,  New  York,  Wm.  Wood  and  Company, 
1896;  Second  Revised  Edition,  New  York,  Wm.  Wood  and  Com- 
pany. 1901. 

—  1897  — 

The  Malarial  Parasite  and  Other  Pathogenic  Protozoa,  Popular   Sc. 

Month.  50:628-641,  1897. 
The  Bacillus  Icteroides  of  Sanarelli   (Bacillus  X,  Sternberg),  Am.  J. 

M.  Sc.  (n.  s.)   114:303-322,  1897;  German  Translation:  Centralbl. 

f.  Bakteriol.  1  Abt.  22:145-166,  1897. 
Etiologia  da  febre  amarella,  Brazil  med.  11:196,  205,  1897. 
Preventive  Medicine,  Sanitarian  38:193,  1897. 
Recent  Researches  Relating  to  the  Etiology  and  Specific  Treatment  of 

Yellow  Fever,  Am.  Pub.  Health  Assn.  Rep.  23:426-442,  1897;  Med. 

News  71:613-618,  1897. 
The  Bacillus  Icteroides  of  Sanarelli,  Comptes-rendus  12e  Cong,  internat. 

de  med.  2:120-137,  1897. 
Yellow   Fever,   in  Loomis'  System  of  Practical  Medicine,  1:267-300, 

1897. 

—  1898  — 

The  Etiology  and  Geographic  Distribution  of  Infectious  Diseases,  Pop- 
ular Sc.  Month.  52:289-304,  1898. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  325 

The  Address  of  the  President  Delivered  at  the  Forty-Ninth  Annual 

Meeting  of  the  American   Medical  Association,  held   at   Denver, 

June   7-10,    1898,   J.    A.    M.   A.   30:1373-1380,    1898;    Med.    News 

72:737-740,  1898. 
Answer  to  His  Critics,  Med.  News  73:335-337,  1898. 
Bacillus  Icteroides  (Sanarelli)  and  Bacillus  X  (Sternberg),  J.  A.  M. 

A.  30:233,  1898;  Tr.  Assn.  Am.  Physicians  13:61-72,  1898;  German 

Translation:  Centralbl.  f.  Bakteriol.,  etc.,  1  Abt.  23:769-777,  1898. 
The   Bacteriology  of   Yellow    Fever,   Johns   Hopkins    Hosp.    Bull.   9: 

119,  1898. 
Dr.  Klebs'  Ameba  of  Yellow  Fever,  J.  A.  M.  A.  30:1054,  1898. 
The  Malarial  Parasite,  Youth's  Companion  72:204,  1898. 
The  Medical  Department  of  the  Army,  Med.  Rec.  54:213-214,   1898; 

Med.  News  73:182,  1898. 
The  Official  Summary  of  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Surgeon-General 

of  the  Army,  New  York  M.  J.  68:793-798,  1898. 
The  Sanitary  Regeneration  of  Havana,  Century  Magazine  56:578-583, 

1898. 
The  Work  of  the  Army  Medical  Department  During  the  Spanish  War, 

J.  A.  M.  A.  31:1356-1360,  1898. 

—  1899  — 

The  Surgeon-General  of  the  Army  and  the  American  National  Red 

Cross,  National  M.  Rev.  8:252,  1899. 
Antivivisection  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  J. 

140:198,  1899. 
The  Bacillus  Icteroides  as  the  Cause  of  Yellow  Fever :  A  Reply  to 

Professor  Sanarelli,  Med.  News  75:225-228,  767,  1899. 
The    Bacillus    Icteroides    (Sanarelli)    and    Bacillus    X    (Sternberg), 

Centralbl.  f.   Bakteriol.   1   Abt.  25:655-662,    1899;   transl.   Cronica 

med.quirurg.  de  la  Habana  25:161-169,  1899. 

—  1900  — 

Sanitary  Lessons  of  the  War,  J.  A.  M.  A.  32:1287-1294,  1899. 
Surgeons  Wanted  in  the  Philippines,  New  York  M.  J.  71:205-206,  1900. 
Yellow  Fever  and  Mosquitos,  Brit.  M.  J.  2:1391,  1900. 
Yellow  Fever  Etiology,  J.  A.  M.  A.  35:1039,  1900. 

— 1901  — 
Malaria,  Popular  Sc.  Month.  58:360-371,  1901. 

The  Transmission  of  Yellow  Fever  by  Mosquitoes,  Popular  Sc.  Month. 
59:225-241,  1901. 

—  1902  — 

The  Dinner  to  Dr.  Sternberg  (with  Address  by  Dr.  Sternberg),  Phila. 

M.  J.  9:1120-1123,  1902. 
The  Function  of  the  Army  Medical  School,  The  Address  at  the  Annual 

Commencement  of  the  Army  Medical  School  at  Washington,  April 

4,  1902,  Am.  Med.  3:547-551,  1902. 


326  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

—  1903  — 

Preventive  Medicine,  Popular  Sc.  Month.  62:348-358,  1903. 

Filth  Diseases,  Med.  Mirror  14:13-15,  1903. 

Infection  and  Immunity,  with  Special  Reference  to  the  Prevention  of 

Infectious  Diseases,  New  York  and  London,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons, 

1903. 

—  1905  — 

Sanatorium  Treatment,  Washington  M.  Ann.  3:305-308,  1905. 

—  1906  — 

Preventive  Medicine,  George  Washington  Univ.  Bull.  5:55-64,  1906. 

—  1907  — 

First  Fifty  Cases  of  Tuberculosis  Treated  at  Starmont  Sanatorium, 
Washington  M.  Ann.  5:337-347,  1907. 

—  1908  — 

Building  of  Model  Houses.  Report  of  the  President's  Homes  Com- 
mission, Washington,  1908. 

Addresses  Delivered  at  the  Complimentary  Banquet  to  General  George 
M.  Sternberg,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  on  His  Seventieth  Birthday,  June  8, 
1908.  Compiled  and  edited  by  Geo.  M.  Kober,  M.D.,  Washington, 
[1908]. 

—  1910  — 

Housing  of  the  Working  Classes  a  Factor  in  the  Prevention  of  Tuber- 
culosis, J  Outdoor  Life  7:319-321,  1910. 

— 1911  — 

The  Results  of  Treatment  at  the  Starmont  (Tuberculosis)  Sanatorium, 
Washington  M.  Ann.  10:50-56,  1911. 

— 1915  — 

Small   Homes  Within  the  City  Limits   for  Unskilled  Wage   Earners, 

Second  Edition,  New  York,  National  Housing  Assn.  Publ.  No.  27, 

1915. 
Researches  Relating  to  the  Etiology  of  Yellow  Fever,  Pan-Am.  Surg. 

and  Med.  J.  21:  no.  4,  16-20,  1916. 
Historical  Resume  of  the  Investigations  of  Yellow  Fever  Leading  Up 

to  the  Findings  of  the  Reed  Board,  Proc.  Pan.-Am.  Scient.  Cong. 

10:645-652,  1917. 

TRANSLATIONS 

Magnin,  Antoine :  The  Bacteria,  Boston,  1880;  New  York,  1884. 

Galtier,  V.:  Injections  of  the  Virus  of  Hydrophobia  Into  the  Circula- 
tion Do  Not  Produce  Rabies  and  Seem  to  Confer  Immunity  from 
the  Disease,  Med.  Rec.  22:227,  1882. 

Abstract  of  the  Conclusions  Adopted  and  Propositions  Rejected  by  the 
Technical  Commission  of  the  International  Sanitary  Conference  of 
Rome.  Translated  from  the  French.  Rep.  U.  S.  Marine  Hosp. 
Service,  278-303,  1886. 

Also  Co-Editor  of  A  Treatise  on  Asiatic  Cholera,  edited  by  E.  C. 
Wendt,  New  York,  1885. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  A.  C 239,  292 

Abo,  Finland    145 

Adams,  Emmett  L 263 

Adams,   Samuel  S 291 

Addams,  Jane    91 

Agramonte,    Aristides,     132,    213, 
215,  217,  220,  277,  300,  304 

Ambulance  train    173 

American  Academy  of  Medi- 
cine        149 

American     Medical     Associa- 
tion    140,  185 

American    Public  Health   As- 
sociation ..  67,    93,    94,    140,    149 
221 

Andrews,  George  L 253 

Anemometer    17 

Army    Medical    Corps,    131,     159 
220,  244 

Army  Medical  Museum 69 

Army  Medical  School.  132,  244,  246 

Army  of  the  Potomac 4 

Arthur,  W.  H 177 

Ashburn,  Percy  M 211 

Ashford,  Bailey  K 212 

Association  of  American  Med- 
ical   Colleges    149 

Association  of  American  Phy- 
sicians     92,   140,   149 

Association   of    Military    Sur- 
geons        149 

Association    for    the    Preven- 
tion of  Tuberculosis 149 

Bacillus  cadaverinus    118 

Bacillus  dysenteriae  209 

Bacillus   icteroides    221 

Bacillus  malariae    73 

Bacillus   "X"    117 

Baguio     233 

Bahia,  Brazil    99 

Baldwin,  William  H..257,  263,  264 

Baltimore   90,  111 

Banks,  Nathaniel  P 10 

Barbadoes     97 

Bear  Point,  Fla 36 

Beaver  Creek,  I.  T 14 

Bemis,  S.  M 274 

Benguet    233 

Berliner,  Emile   259 

Biggs,  Hermann  M 135,  239 

Billings,   Frank   239 

Biological  Society  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia   149 


Boardman.    Mabel   T 263 

Borden,  William  Cline.. .  .139,  249 

Bowditch,  Vincent  Y 264 

Bray,  Grandin   3 

Brennan,    P.   J 263 

Brewer,  David  J 289 

Brown,   J.   M 172 

Bryant,  Joseph  D 136 

Bull  Run   4 

Burgess,   Daniel   M.,   70,   111,  114 
120 

Calmette,   Albert    264 

Calvert,  W.  J.... 210 

Caminhoa,   Ioaquim    102 

Camp  diseases   182 

Camp  sanitation    180 

Camp   Supply,  I.  T 13 

Caoutchouc   98 

Carmona    y    Valle,    Manuel  96 

107,   108,  110 

Carroll,  James,   132,   197,  213,  215 

221,  222,  225,  277 

Cebu    232 

Centerville,  Va 4 

Chaille,  Stanford  E...70,  274,  279 

Cheyenne  Indians    14 

Cholera   11,  128 

Clayton,  Jere  B 209 

Clearwater  Battle  60 

Cleveland,  Grover   136,  141 

Cleveland,  Mrs.  Grover 136 

Cleveland  General  Hospital..  10 

Cochran,   Jerome    71 

Cole.  C.  C 253 

College     of     Physicians     and 

Surgeons  of  New  York....  3 

Columbus,  Ohio   10 

Contract  surgeons    166 

Cook,  G.  Wythe  216,  263 

Cooke,  R.  P 224,  225 

Cope,  Edward  D 52 

Cosmos  Club  149 

Cotegepe,   Baron    102 

Cotta-Batto  233 

Councilman,  William  T Ill 

Craig,  Charles  F 210 

Crane,  Charles  H 42 

Cryptococcus    xanthogenicus,  102 

104 

Cuba  112 

Culpeper,  Va 7 

Curry,  Joseph  J 209 

Curtis,  Edward 69 


328 


INDEX 


Department  of   Columbia....  46 

Department  of  the  East 89 

Department  of  the  Gulf 10 

Diaz,   Porfirio    106 

Disinfectants   67,  93 

Dock,   George    197 

Downey,  William  F 263 

Eagle's  Wing  54 

Edson,    John    Joy    253 

Education,  medical   153 

Emory,  William  H 26 

Ernst,  Harold  C 239 

European  trip    42 

Finlav,    Carlos,    70,    109,    110,  113 
223,  273 

Flexner,   Simon    210,  239 

Flick,   Lawrence  F 263,  264 

Florence,  Italy  45 

Fort  Barrancas    28 

Fort  Bayard   139,  248 

Fort  Columbus    20 

Fort   Dodge    13 

Fort   Hamilton    25 

Fort  Harker   11,  18 

Fort   Harris    139 

Fort    Hayes    13,    14 

Fort  Lapwai    55,  58.  64 

Fort  Logan  H.  Roots 139 

Fort  McHenrv  139 

Fort  McRee   28 

Fort  Mason    87 

Fort  Meade    139 

Fort  Myer    139 

Fort  Pickens    33 

Fort  Riley 13,  14,  15 

Fort  Walla  Walla  48 

Fort  Warren    25 

Fossil  remains   49 

Freire,  Domingos,  96,  102,  104,  110 

Friedlander,  Carl  84 

Gaines'  Mills   4,    10 

Gallinger,  J.  H 219,  220,  298 

Gannett,  Henry  252 

Gavino  Yglesias,  Angel   107 

Genoa,  Italy  45 

Georgetown,   D.   C 72 

George    Washington    Univer- 
sity   237,  250 

Gibier,  Paul  110,  112 

Gilman,  Daniel  C Ill 

Goes,  Dr 100,  102,  103 

Gorgas.  William  C,  124,  213,  223 
241,  266,  299 

Gould,  E.  H.  L 253 

Governor's  Island  20 

Grangeville,  Idaho   63 


Gray,  W.  M 197 

Guiteras,    Juan,    70,   223,   273,   274 
279 

Hague,  Mrs.  Arnold   263 

Halla   Kalla  Keen 54 

Hamburg,  Germany  144 

Hamilton,  John   B 134 

Hanger,  G.  W 252 

Hango   145 

Hardee,  T.  S 70,  274 

Hartwick  Seminary    1,      2 

Havana    112 

Havana   Yellow    Fever    Com- 
mission    70,   274 

Heat  regulator    17 

Helsingfors,  Finland  145 

Hoagland,   C.   N 127 

Hoagland  Laboratory   127 

Holton,  Henry  D. . .'. 239 

Honorary  degrees 149 

Hookworm   disease    212 

Hosmer,  Miss  K.  P 252 

Hospital  corps   167 

Hospital  ships   175 

Howard,  Oliver  0 54 

Hunter,  David  4 

Huntington,  David  L 144 

Hurd,   Henry  M 239 

Iloilo 230 

Indian  campaigns   13,  53 

Indians   50 

International      Congress      on 

Hygiene  and  Demography..  265 
International  Congress  on  Tu- 
berculosis        263 

International     Medical     Con- 
gress       144 

International     Sanitary     Con- 
ference          91 

Ireland,   Merritte  W 305 

Isabella,  Princess    100 

Italy    45 

Jacobi,  Abraham    239,  264 

Janeway,  Edward  G 239,  240 

Janney,  B.  T 253 

Japan    234 

Jarvis,  Thomas  J 100,  104 

Jefferson   Barracks,   Mo 10 

Johns  Hopkins  University.. 91,  115 

Jolo   233 

Jones,  Joseph    71 

Joseph,  Chief  53 

Kean,  Jefferson  R 225 

Kidd,  M.  H 13 

Klebs,   Edwin    73 

Kobe    235 


INDEX 


329 


Kober,  George  M.,  216,  239,  251 
252,  253,  254,  257,  263,  264,  283 
299,  314 

Koch,  Robert,  69,  92,  211,  264,  302 

Lamont,    Daniel    S 137,  206 

Landouzy,  Louis   264 

Lathrop,  Horace  3 

Laveran,    Charles    Louis    Al- 

phonse    73 

Lazear,    Jesse    W.,    132,    213,  215 
220,  221 

Leech,  D.  Olin   216 

Leidy,   Joseph    14 

Leptospira  icteroides   122 

Lewiston,  Idaho    64 

Lomb  prize  93 

London    42 

Looking  Glass,  Chief    56 

Luzon   230 

McCaw,  Walter  D. 280,  306 

McConnell,  Dr. 224,  226,  227 

McDowell,  Irvin   9 

McGee,    Anita    Newcomb    . . .   168 
McKinley,  William,   141,   142,   184 
228,  235 

McKinley,  Mrs.  William   142 

Malaria    72 

Malvern  Hill    10 

Manassas,   Va 6,      7 

Mancel,  Henry   274 

Manila    229 

Manual   of   Bacteriology 126 

Martinez,  Emiles    70 

Matas,  Rudolph  274 

Maus,  L.  Mervin  245 

Mauzy,   Elizabeth   Grant    (see 

Pattison,  Elizabeth  Grant)  .      14 
Medical    Society   of   the    Dis- 
trict  of   Columbia 149 

Medicine,   Preventive 156 

Medicine,  Scientific   150 

Mexico   106 

Micrococcus  tetragenus  febris 

flavae    113 

Microscopical  work   69 

Middleton,  J.  V.  D 173 

Miles,  Nelson  A 140 

Miller,  George  B 1 

Miller,      Margaret      Levering 
(see   Sternberg,   Margaret  Lev- 
ering) 

Mitchell,  Sollace  115 

Molo   231 

Monte  Carlo  43 

Montezambert,  Frederic 264 

Moros    232 

Moscow   147 


Munson,  Edward  L 291,  308 

Murray,  Robert  87 

Musgrave,  W.  E 209 

Nagasaki   234 

Naples    45 

National    Association    for   the 
Study    and    Prevention    of 

Tuberculosis    256,  257 

National  Board  of  Health,  69,    70 
71,  274 

New  Orleans 26,  29 

Newsholme,    Sir   Arthur 264 

Nez   Perces   Campaign    53 

Nice,  France 42 

Nikko   235 

Noguchi,  Hideyo  122,  124 

Nurses,  Female  Army   168 

Ollicut    54 

Organ  Mountains  100 

Osier,  William  240 

Ott,  Larry  57 

Owen,  William  0 202 

Panama  Canal    219,  266 

Pan-American   Congress,   149,  223 
224,  225,  273 

Pannwitz,  Gotthold   264 

Paris    42 

Park,  Roswell   239 

Parker,  Willard    24b 

Parsons,   T.   C 263 

Pasteur,  Louis   74 

Pattison,  Elizabeth  Grant....      14 
Pattison,      Martha     L.      (see 

Sternberg,   Martha  L.) 
Pattison,     Thomas     Thurston 

Nelson  14 

Pensacola    29 

Petropolis    101 

Philippine  Islands   228 

Philosophical     Society     of 

Washington    149,  237 

Phinney,   Elihu    2 

Phipps,  Henry  258 

Photomicrography 69,  71,   120 

Pilcher,  Lewis  S 239 

Plague    210 

Plattsburg  Barracks,  N.  Y....  139 

Pneumococcus    73 

Portland,  Ore 47 

Portsmouth  Grove   10 

Post,  Lawrence  57 

Pratt  Institute  127 

President's    Homes    Commis- 
sion    149,  259 

Prevost,  Chapot   102 


330 


INDEX 


Reed,  Charles  A.  L 201 

Reed,   Walter,    126,    131.   135,    1% 

198,  213,  220,  227,  241,  243,  270 

273,  277,  278 

Reuben,  Chief   55 

Reynolds,  James  B....261,  262,  263 

Richard,   Charles    174 

Richardson,  Maurice   239 

Riis,  Jacob   260 

Rio  de  Janeiro  . . .  .• 97 

Rixey,  Presley  M 239 

Rockefeller  Foundation 122 

Rome    45 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  204,  259,  261 

266 
Root,    Elihu,    131,    219,    233,    237 

247,  299 

Rosenau,  Milton  J 279 

Ruiz,  Daniel    108,   109,  278 

Russell,  Frederick  F 310 

Russell,  Louisa   11 

Russell,  Robert   11 

St.  Petersburg,  Russia   146 

St.   Thomas    97 

Sanarelli,   Giuseppe    213 

San  Francisco   46 

Satterlee,  Bishop    253 

Scientific  research    69 

Scott,  Winfield  9 

Seitz,  Carl   120 

Shakespeare,  Edward  0 196 

Shattuck,  F.  C 239 

Sheridan,  Philip  H 13 

Siddons,  Frederic  L 263 

Sleman,  John  B.,  Jr 263 

Smart,  Charles   172,  180 

Smith,  Alexander  H 240 

Smith,  Stephen   136 

Smithsonian   Institution    237 

Spanish-American  War   158 

Starmont  Sanatorium   257 

Sternberg,  Anna  1 

Sternberg,  George  Miller, 
birth,  1 ;  preliminary  educa- 
tion, 2;  early  pursuits,  2; 
schoolteacher,  3 ;  medical 
education,  3 ;  in  medical 
practice  3 ;  Assistant  Sur- 
geon, U.  S.  Army,  4 ;  Civil 
War  record,  4-10;  Colum- 
bus, Ohio,  10;  Jefferson 
Barracks,  10;  marriage  to 
Louisa  Russell,  11;  Fort 
Harker,  11 ;  Indian  cam- 
paigns, 13 ;  Fort  Riley,  13  ; 
natural  history  collections, 
14,  35 ;  marriage  to  Martha 
L.  Pattison,  14;  invention 
of     anemometer     and     heat 


Sternberg,  George  Miller — Cont'd 
regulator,  17;  Governor's 
Island,  20;  early  experience 
with  yellow  fever,  21,  32; 
Fort  Hamilton,  25 ;  Fort 
Warren,  25 ;  New  Orleans, 
26;  Fort  Barrancas,  28; 
attack  of  yellow  fever,  38 ; 
Europe,  42;  rank  of  Major, 
43 ;  Department  of  Colum- 
bia, 46;  Walla  Walla,  48; 
Nez  Perces  campaign,  53 : 
work  on  disinfectants,  67; 
early  scientific  work,  69; 
photomicrography,  69,  71 
Havana  Yellow  Fever  Com- 
mission, 70;  malaria  studies, 
72;  discovery  of  pneumo- 
coccus,  73 ;  Fort  Mason,  87 ; 
demonstration  of  tubercle 
bacillus,  87;  Department  of 
East,  89;  Baltimore,  90;  In- 
ternational Sanitary  Con- 
ference, 91 ;  demonstration 
of  malaria  Plasmodium,  91  ; 
Berlin,  92;  Lomb  Prize,  93; 
yellow  fever  investigations, 
94;  Brazil,  102;  Mexico, 
106;  Baltimore,  111;  Hav- 
ana investigations,  112;  yel- 
low fever  treatment,  114; 
methods  of  research,  115: 
report  on  yellow  fever,  121 
San  Francisco.  125  ;  rank  of 
Lieutenant  -  Colonel,  125 ; 
Manual  of  Bacteriology, 
126;  New  York,  127;  chol- 
era consultant,  128 ;  Sur- 
geon-General, 131  ;  Army 
Medical  School,  132;  attend- 
ing physician  to  President 
Cleveland,  136;  official  at- 
tainments, 137;  publications, 
139;  Wood's  Hole,  140; 
International  Medical  Con- 
gress, Moscow,  144;  Pres- 
ident American  Medical 
Association,  149;  society 
membership,  149;  honorary 
degrees,  149;  Spanish- 
American  War,  158;  official 
report,  159;  Sanitary  Les- 
sons of  the  War,  185;  an- 
swers to  cricitisms,  201 ; 
scientific  achievements  dur- 
ing war,  209 ;  Yellow 
Fever  Board,  214;  letters 
from  Walter  Reed,  220; 
Philippine  Islands,  228;  re- 
tirement   from    Army,    237 ; 


INDEX 


331 


Sternberg,  George  Miller — Cont'd 
complimentary  dinner,  239; 
letters  of  commendation, 
246;  Infection  and  Immu- 
nity, 249;  humanitarian  in- 
terests, 251 ;  International 
Congress  on  Tuberculosis, 
263 ;  last  contributions  to 
preventive  medicine,  266 ; 
Sanitary  Problems  Con- 
nected with  the  Construction 
of  the  Panama  Canal,  266; 
history  of  Yellow  Fever 
Board,  273;  death,  280; 
memoirs,  280;  congressional 
recognition,  298;  dedication 
of  monument,  305 ;  bibliog- 
raphy,  319. 

Sternberg,  John    1 

Sternberg,  Levi    1,2,     18 

Sternberg,  Louisa  Russell 11 

Sternberg,     Margaret     Lever- 
ing     1,     18 

Sternberg,   Martha  L 14,  298 

Sternberg,  Theodore   230 

Stiles,  Charles  Wardell 212 

Stiles,  H.  R 174 

Stimson,   Lewis   A 239 

Stockholm,  Sweden   145 

Stockton,   Charles   G 239 

Strong,   Richard    P 209 

Sully,  A 13 

Surgeon-General    131 

Surgeon-General's  Library...  138 
Sykes,  George  4,     10 

Taal   231 

Tagalos    231 

Tokyo  235 

Tommasi-Crudeli,  Corrado...     73 

Too-hul-hul-Sota    56 

Torney,  George  H 175 

Travois  stretcher   62 

Tropical  diseases    209 

Trudeau,  Edward  L 257,  264 

Tubercle  bacillus    87 

Tuberculosis    255,  263 

Turkey  Bridge   4,     10 

Typhoid  fever  187,  192 

Typhoid  Fever  Board 196 

Tyson,  James  239 

Union  College   1 

Van  Reypen,  W.  K...145,  146,  147 
Vaughan,  Victor  C...196,  220.  239 
Vedder,  Edward  B 211 


Venice    45 

Vera  Cruz,  Mexico  108 

Visayans    231 

Walcott,  H.  P 134 

Walla  Walla,  Wash 48,  67 

Wallowa  Valley   53 

Ward,  S.  B 239 

Warren,    Gouverneur    K.    . . .  25 

Washington,  D.  C 251,  261 

Washington  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences    237 

Washington  Barracks 139 

Washington  Sanitary  Housing 

Company   254 

Washington  Sanitary  Im- 
provement Company   253 

Weber,  G.  A 252 

Weeks,   Henry  Clay 270 

Welch,  William  H.,  Ill,  214,  239 
242,  256,  264,  303 

Weller,  Charles  F 260 

West  Point,  N.  Y 203 

White,  Charles  B 43 

White  Bird  55 

William  I   92 

Williams,  Theodore  264 

Wilson,  E.  H 127 

Wilson,  J.  C 239 

Wilson,  Nathaniel   253 

Wood,  Leonard 140,  241,  299 

Woodhull,  Alfred  A 150 

Wood's  Hole    140 

Woodward,  Joseph  Janvier,  43,  69 
274 

Woodward,  S.  W 253,  263 

Worthington,  A.  Y 253 

Wright,  J.  P 173 

Wyeth,  John  A 239 

Wyman,  Walter   239 

Yellow  fever  at  Governor's 
Island,  21;  at  Barrancas,  32; 
Dr.  Sternberg's  attack,  38; 
investigations  of  Dr.  Stern- 
berg, 70,  94;  preventive 
inoculations,  96,  102,  108, 
118;  microorganisms  of,  96, 
102,  107,  109,  110,  112,  113, 
115,  117,  122;  Dr.  Stern- 
berg's method  of  treatment, 
114 

Yellow   Fever  Board 213,  273 

Yellow  Fever  Commission 
(Havana)    70,  274 

Yokohama    235 

Zamboango   232 


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